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Poor (Yoksul)

Poor (Yoksul) (translated)

Movie · 1986 · 12 people

Zeki Ökten directed the 1986 Turkish film Yoksul (The Poor) from a screenplay by Umur Bugay. It combines comedy and drama. Shot in colour on 35 mm, it runs about 71 minutes, was produced by Şeref Gür and Şerafettin Gür, and was made by Şeref Film. Its hero is a tea-maker named Yoksul, played by Kemal Sunal.

The story takes place in a crowded commercial inn. Yoksul is an experienced but naive, well-meaning man who works at the tea stall there. The stall's owner Süleyman (Yaman Okay) exploits his good nature in every way, and Leyla (Şehnaz Dilan), the textile-workshop girl he loves, toys with his pure feelings and takes unpaid loans from him. One day a shop owner, Kerim Bey (Kerem Yılmazer), advises Yoksul on how to behave. What happens to Yoksul looks ordinary, but it carries the power to reverse every role. Fatoş Sezer appears as the secretary, with İsmet Kazancıoğlu, Nurettin Şen and Eray Özbal among the inn's tradesmen.

Orhan Oğuz was the cinematographer, and the film was shot at the historic Büyük Abud Efendi Han in Mahmutpaşa. Economic crisis, shares, partnerships and fictitious exports feature in its world of trade.

DirectorZeki Ökten
Production companyŞeref Film

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Cast

Fatoş Sezer Fatoş Sezer Actor · died at 53 Kemal Sunal Kemal Sunal Film actor · died at 55 Yoksul Kerem Yılmazer Kerem Yılmazer Actor · died at 58 Kerim Şehnaz Dilan Şehnaz Dilan Actor · 66 years old Yaman Okay Yaman Okay Actor · died at 41 Süleyman Kamran Usluer Kamran Usluer Actor · died at 67 Güzin Çorağan Güzin Çorağan Actor · 1943 – 2022 Mahmut's Wife Avni Yalçın Actor · born 1947 Konfeksiyoncu Cemil Köksal Engür Köksal Engür Actor · died at 77 Zeki Demirkubuz Zeki Demirkubuz Film director · 62 years old İşportacı Kutay Köktürk Actor · 78 years old Levent Erdal Özyağcılar Erdal Özyağcılar Actor · 78 years old

Also in the cast: İsmet Kazancıoğlu, Nurettin Şen, Eray Özbal

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Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

What I love most about Kemal Sunal is that even playing the naive, well-meaning man, he made audiences love him without begging for pity. The tea-maker in Yoksul comes from that tradition: a man whose good nature everyone exploits, toyed with even by the girl he loves. In Zeki Ökten's hands the story makes you laugh and aches at the same time without sliding into crude farce. Yaman Okay as the exploitative owner of the tea stall is a memorable counterweight. Being shot at the historic Büyük Abud Efendi Han gives the film the texture of old Istanbul. At only seventy-one minutes, it leaves you wishing it had lasted a little longer.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Yoksul looks at the trading world of mid-1980s Turkey from inside a crowded commercial inn. Having shares, partnerships, economic crisis and fictitious exports all revolve around a tea stall is an interesting way of showing a fast-changing economy through an ordinary man's eyes. The tea-maker whose goodness everyone exploits can be read as a plain allegory of how labour and innocence lose their value in the new order. Shooting at the historic han in Mahmutpaşa turns the location into almost a character of its own. Its tone, swinging between comedy and drama, delivers the message a little too directly at times, but it remains a valuable film for catching the spirit of its period.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

With Kemal Sunal in the lead, it will interest viewers of every age. But this isn't a Kemal Sunal comedy built only on laughs; it has a sad side too. Watching a kind-hearted man being used by everyone may feel a bit heavy, or a bit dull, for small children. Talk of shares, partnerships and exports may not hold their attention either. For teenagers and adults it opens a nice conversation about goodness and innocence.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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