One of the movies I’ve seen lately and recommend is Gegen die Wand. The English title of the movie is Head On, though the German translates to "Against the Wall" which seems a better fit. Dark and disturbing, and very intense movie about love, personal demons, the immigrant life, and so much more. It’s set among the Turkish immigrant community in Hamburg, focusing in particular on the second generation: the children of the Gastarbeiter who have a foot in both Turkish and German cultures but perhaps truly belong to neither. The characters stay with you long after the movie is over.
One interesting vignette: in the movie, the main female character Sibel’s family disowns her, burn all her photos, and acts as if she no longer exists after they learn that her marriage to a Turkish guy is a sham and entered into to get them off her back. What she really yearned for was the freedom to have fun and date (and more) non-Turkish guys.
Well, it turns out the actress, also named Sibel in real life, had been in some porn movies in her younger days. This came to public light after Gegen die Wand made a big splash in Germany, including winning the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin Film Festival. Of course, her Turkish-German family was mortified, and proceeded to disown her, burn her photos, etc. Talk about life imitating art…
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