Top 10 performances of Miray Daner

As the show comes to an end I wanted to make a list of all the performances of Miray Daner and scenes of Hilal I like the most.

Although the character of Hilal was attempted to be destroyed since the beginning of the show she got to be the most special character in the show in my eyes. And she’ll always stay that way.

10. The episode in which Mehmet dies

Miray portrayed the pain, depression and the state of Hilal not being able to cry so well that I felt a tightness in my chest sitting in front of the screen. If she would’ve cried we would have cried along with her but she reflected that pain to us in a great way without crying.

And there is also the truth that we wrote so many scenarios to her state of waving after the boat with Mehmet’s coffin in it.

9. The moment Hilal got shot

 

All of us surely have watched scenes were people get shot a lot of times before. We even watched many of them in “Wounded Love”. But the best performance regarding this belongs to Miray. From her stumbling when the bullet enters her body, the change of her surprised facial expression to one filled with pain and fear, the shivering of her hands, the breath she lets out to her finally falling to the ground, Miray’s performance altogether is just really great. But alas the rest of the scene was destroyed because of the shooting angles, music and the darkness of the picture.

8. The famous Kafka-Sadi scene

Of course both actors deliver a great performance in this scene but our topic is Miray right now. At the beginning of the scene Hilal comes to the military quarters and panics when she sees Leon and turns her back to him. She got aware of her feelings just recently and first tries to calm herself down. Then she thinks about what she’s going to say and lastly she puts on her tough face that she always puts on in front of Leon. All this just happens in 3 seconds. And in the rest of the scene whole of Izmir could burn down from the tension between them.

7. Hilal shooting Leon and her crisis afterwards

Hilal shot Leon because she was bound to because otherwise her brother would’ve died. The shivering of her hands, the painful “Lieutenant”, her tears when she pulls the trigger and her falling to the ground the same time as Leon falls to the ground… And her state of being petrified afterwards.

Her being forced to stand on her feet again, her admitting to her father that she shot Leon and her tears that never stop during all of it… Her struggle to go to the hospital and her screaming “No, he won’t die. The lieutenant will survive.” after her brother tells her that she can visit his grave after he dies. I really always ask myself how you could act so well, Miray.

6. Flag scene

This scene is a great scene but it is on this rank because I rated it after Miray’s performance. How many people did you see giving the enaumored looks Hilal gave the Turkish flag coming down over the Greek flag to the love of their lives?

5. The reunion of Hilal and Leon

Yes, the scene we all love so much. I’ve watched many native and foreign serials before but I’ve never seen such passion, longing and love in any other scene. The performances of both actors are great but Miray is different in this scene. It is such a reunion that she just doesn’t act with her facial expressions and words but also with her whole body. Every move and even every breath she takes is full of longing. This scene was inspected a thousand times before so there is not much to say about it anyway.

4. Hilal getting out of prison

The fear she feels when the soldiers open the door, her being pushed outside and the first time she looks at the sky and the gleam in her eyes… And her turning back to reality the moment she lowers her head and sees the Greek soldiers… The fear coming back…

We don’t know what Hilal has gone through in prison but because of Miray’s performcance we fathom out that she got tortured because the otherwise fearless Hilal walks as far away as possible from the soldiers. Miray acted it out greatly with the hope speech she gave Mehmet afterwards and her shivering and crying after entering her home with the awareness that she is now free and safe. But of course all of this was wasted.

3. “I would’ve shot you, Lieutenant!”

This scene is really different for me. Miray and Boran act so well with their eyes in this scene that I could watch it like fourty times and still get teary-eyed. The disappointment of Leon over Hilal’s words and the reflection of the same sadness in Hilal’s eyes who tries to take a tough stance when she sees the disappointment on Leon’s face. And her turning her back and escaping from there because she doesn’t want her sadness to be seen…

Her stopping with Leon’s words of honour and laying her hand down on her chest right on top of her heart, her gasping for breath…
2. “I worshipped you! What a pity!”

No matter what you would say about this scene it would be not enough, I think. It’s the reason why many people started to watch the show and began to admire Hilal. Miray who did not get crushed even a little bit with Halit Ergenç standing in front of her… Just like Hilal not crushing in front of Colonel Cevdet in the scene.

Hilal, who is trying to hold back her tears since she heard her father’s voice but is also looking deep into her father’s eyes to call him to account and now no longer can’t hold back her tears. Hilal, who is setting her missing aside after seeing her father whom she worshipped after 7 years in a state she would’ve never wanted to see him in and standing bolt upright.

Hilal who doesn’t refrain from calling her father to account despite of the Greek army standing in front of her. Hilal whose disappointment can be read from her eyes. And Miray who portrays that Hilal just perfectly. I don’t know if there’s any other actor in the country who could act out this scene so well like her.

1. Hilal in prison and to be executed

I don’t know how to describe every single moment but every scene of her in the 10th and 11th episode is perfect on its own. Her speaking with her sister and mother, her speaking with the musicians and her sending her compliments to Atatürk through Halide Edip… Her speaking with Vasili and bravely saying “What you call nothing is my homeland!” despite being in great fear. Her attempting to suicide so her family doesn’t have to see her getting executed and Leon saving her, all her speeches with Leon.

All the moments that created the love sparks in Hilal’s heart beginning  with “You will go away from this land!” and ending with “Thank you, Leon.”.

And her talk with her father. “My father taught me the worth of freedom, to never give up.”. Maybe it was the last decent father-daughter scene. No matter what everyone says the most wasted relationship of this show is HilCev.

And lastly the moment of the execution… Miray and Halit Ergenç acting with their eyes while all the others are just crying loudly. Hilal looking into her father’s eyes with disappointment. “Now that you’re a Greek you don’t love your daughter anymore?”

And lastly her holding her head high up while she is going onto the hanging tree and fearing death. And the pride she feels for dying for her country. This scene is Hilal’s best scene and Miray’s best performance. I applaud her for it.

Bonus: “How much lower will you get?”
https://youtu.be/feccFWZt8Ng
Miray is not present in this scene. Only her voice is there. But the article is so great and Miray reads it so well that I could not not add it. I’m looking at the poems of Halit Ikbal right now and at this. It’s a pity.

Hilal maybe was the strongest and most special female character of the Turkish television history. But she was wasted because it didn’t fit the benefits of some people. But there are many great scenes we will remember her by when the show ends. This ranking was made in relation to the top ten performances of Miray. Otherwise there are more nice scenes of Hilal and performances of Miray. Miray sometimes creates greatness even just in moments that couldn’t be called scenes. I hope that she will take place in professional projects that will value her from now on. Hilal will be one of the most special characters from my perspective. I won’t remember her in the difficult condition she now is in. I will remember her as the strong, brave, passionate, patriotic and enamoured Hilal just like in the scenes above.

And lastly there are two clips of Hilal that I really like and watch when I get bored. I’m putting these clips that reflect Hilal just rightly at the end of my ranking.