Pocket Hercules: Naim Suleymanoglu

Naim was born in Bulgaria to a Turkish family. He entered a weightlifting hall very young and soon passed everyone his age. The state claimed him as an athlete while pressing his family; names are changed, the language forbidden, and the family lives with it daily. Naim breaks records in international competition. In 1986, after a meet in Melbourne, he decides to stay. He comes to Turkey. But under international rules he cannot compete at once and there is a waiting period before he is eligible for the Olympics. Özer Feyzioğlu directs. Hayat Van Eck plays Naim; Selen Öztürk, Yetkin Dikinciler and Gürkan Uygun are in the cast. It is a Turkish production. Naim Süleymanoğlu was a real athlete; he won gold at three consecutive Olympic Games and is among the most cited names in the history of weightlifting. An agreement was made between Turkey and Bulgaria so that he could compete, and a payment was made to lift the waiting period. Its ground is the policy of forced name changing applied in Bulgaria in the eighties. The film took a strong result at the box office and entered the most watched productions in Turkey that year. The weightlifting was filmed in detail and the actor trained at length for the part. Its limit is approach; the narrative proceeds in the shape of heroism and does not enter the difficulties of the athlete's later years. Who it is for: viewers who like sports biography and Turkish drama. Who it is not for: it is one directional, the emotional steering high, and the history simplified.