‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’ Ending Explained: What Does “Lingo Lingo” Mean? (2024)

Miracle in Cell No. 7, or, as it’s called in Turkish, Yedinci Kogustaki Mucize, is a 2019 Turkish movie on Netflix that crept into the streaming service’s Top 10 trending movies over the weekend. The film may be new to American audiences, but with nothing but time on our hands, you might as well check it out, right? Say what you will about self-isolation, but at least you’ll never run out of things to watch on Netflix!

A remake of the wildly popular 2013 South Korean film of the same name, Miracle in Cell No. 7 is the kind of uplifting, heartwarming story that is always a crowd-pleaser among dads. Directed by Mehmet Ada Öztekin, the movie stars Nisa Sofiya Aksongu as a little girl desperate to get back her falsely accused, mentally disabled father (Aras Bulut Iynemli).

But Miracle in Cell No. 7also comes with a twist ending that might confuse some if you’re not paying attention. If that’s you, no need to rewind, because I’m here to help. Let’s get into the Miracle in Cell No. 7ending, explained.

What is the Miracle in Cell No. 7 plot? What is the Turkish Miracle in Cell No. 7 about?

Our main characters are a little girl, Ova (Nisa Sofiya Aksongur), and her father, Memo (Aras Bulut Iynemli), a shepherd. Ova’s father, who has an unnamed cognitive disorder, is said to be the same age as Ova mentally. Ova’s mother is dead, and the two live in a small house with Memo’s grandmother.

Despite Memo’s handicap, the family lives a fairly normal life. Like any father trying to make his daughter happy, Memo wants to buy Ova the “Heidi backpack,” that Ova admires in a shop window. However, another little girl named Seda gets the backpack first. A few days later, Seda is outside playing with her friends and they run into Memo. Seda taunts Memo about the backpack and leads him to cliffs. She climbs on the edge, and doesn’t listen when Memo calls out in warning. She slips, hits her head on a rock, and dies. Seda’s parents—including her father who is a high-ranking military official—find her in Memo’s arms, and blames Memo for her death. Memo is coerced into signing a confession and sent to prison.

As Memo is driven away, he shouts back to Ova that, “The one-eyed giant saw it.” We learn via flashback that the “one-eye giant” is a rock near the location where Seda slipped. As it turns out, this is also the location that army deserter has decided to make his hideout. Ova discovers the deserter when she investigates, and the deserter tells her that he saw Seda slip and fall. However, when Ova returns with her great grandmother, the army deserter is gone. Ova insists he will return, sits down to wait for him. Ova becomes obsessed with seeing the deserter again and starts skipping school to wait for him. Ova’s teacher promises her if she comes to school she will help get Ova a lawyer to help her visit her dad.

Everyone in the prison hates Memo because they think he is a child killer. They beat him nearly to death. Seda’s father is upset because he wants Memo hanged, as an example, not beaten to death. The prisoners are ordered not to touch Memo again.Memo is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. After the other prisoners realize Memo is mentally disabled, they warm to him, and decide the verdict is unfair. After Memo gets stabbed while trying to protect a prisoner named Askorozlu in a knife fight, they decide to help Memo see his child before he is hanged. Askorozlu, a former mafia member of some sort, has his men on the outside sneak Ova into the prison cell, where she reunites with her dad.

When Ova’s great-grandmother realizes Ova is gone, she has a heart attack and dies. On the way back to her house, Ova tells the prison warden about the witness. The warden investigates his hideout and finds his gun. The warden decides they need to find this deserter, in the name of justice for Memo.

They do find him, but when they bring the witness to Seda’s father, he shoots him in the head and claims the deserter tried to escape. With no witness, the order to hang Memo still stands. He is executed—or so we think.

How does Miracle in Cell No. 7 end? What is the Miracle in Cell No. 7 Turkish ending, explained?

Flashback time! As it turns out, two days earlier, Askorozlu plotted with the warden on a plan to save Memo. A prisoner named Yusuf Aga—who lost his own daughter in a way that he believes was his fault—has decided to die in Memo’s place. He believes his life is of lesser value because, without her great-grandmother, Ova would have no guardian with her father gone. Yusuf Aga instructs the warden to give Ova his metal matchbook as a keepsake.

The guards swap out Memo for Yusuf Aga at the very last minute. Askorozlu’s men on the outside—the same ones who snuck Ova into the prison—stage a car accident to prevent Seda’s father from attending the execution. Yusuf Aga is hanged and killed.

The warden claims that Yusuf Aga escaped, and sends his guards out to search for him. In the meantime, the warden sneaks Memo out in his car, and brings him back to Ova. Father and daughter reunite, and then the warden sends them both away on a boat with a cover story about fleeing the country to escape police violence. They are presumably going to start a new life in another country.

We then flash-forward to Ova grown up, in her wedding dress, holding Yusuf Aga’s matchbook, and the movie ends.

What does “lingo lingo” mean? What is the “lingo lingo” meaning in Turkish?

In the movie, Ova and Memo have a tradition of calling out “Lingo, lingo,” to which the other will reply, “Bottles.” This is a reference to a traditional Turkish song often used by belly dancers called “Lingo, Lingo, Shisheler.” The word “shisheler” is a misspelling of “şişeler,” which translates to “bottles,” while the phrase “lingo lingo” does not mean anything in Turkish or English; it is a filler sing-song word in similar to “la la la” in English.

Is Miracle in Cell No. 7 based on a true story?

As far as I can tell, no, Miracle in Cell No. 7 is not based on a true story and is a total work of fiction. It is, however, a remake of the 2013 South Korean film of the same name. That film was a box office smash hit and has also been adapted as remakes in the Phillippines and in Indonesia.

Watch Miracle in Cell No. 7 on Netflix