Cultural Impact
"Kurtlar Vadisi became an instant hit with its references to Turkish politics, its unabashed abuse of social sensitivities on patriotism, and with unprecedented scenes of violence that included assassination and torture on television", Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emrah Güler. "Not unlike John Woo’s Face/Off an undercover Turkish agent goes through a set of plastic surgeries to infiltrate the mafia, along with a gunman who walks surefooted in this muddy underworld", Güler continues, "the two go through ordeals of every kind for Polat to become the next baron so that he can break them apart." "The hype eventually got so big that the final episodes featured Andy Garcia as the big American mafia boss and Sharon Stone as his wife, eventually lending a kiss to our hero."
Lead character Polat Alemdar (Necati Şaşmaz) "established in the image of a mafia-macho Turkish guy", according to Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emrah Güler, and was "admired by the unemployed and frustrated young men all over Turkey". Güler describes him as “the Turkish equivalent of 24’s Jack Bauer, entangled in the deep state, disguised as a mafia boss”. "Short and ordinary looking," according to Güler, "Polat has a self-defined sense of justice that included hanging traitors in the city center of Istanbul." "The series had reached such a cult status that many young men officially changed their names to Polat Alemdar", Güler concludes.
Read more about this topic: Valley Of The Wolves
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