Watching this movie is like waiting for something to happen that never does happen.
Too many issues are dealt with in this movie, and each one is only touched on superficially. The issue of culture shock appears in the form of Helin travelling from the Kurdish region of Turkey to Berlin, Germany, wearing a chador. The audience expects to experience her difficulties in adjusting to life in this modern metropolis, yet her sudden transformation into a normal Western teenager is as if by magic. Turkish labour migration to Germany also serves as one of the background themes of the plot, yet the only insight we gain into this is Helin's sister crying about "not being able to grow up in my native country" and Helin's mother and her Georgian chef pretending to be Italian in the Italian restaurant and pub the mother runs. Sociologists could have a field day with this 'double alienation' of these migrants yet this is not dealt with any further either.
The running thread through the movie is in the form of a white feather that Helin dreams about - she dreams that the feather will guide her the right way and to the right person. In the foreground her struggle to come to terms with her mother's abandonment of her as a child plays out, in which some emotionally charged words are exchanged in some dramatic scenes, but again, the issues seem to resolve themselves without much dialogue. When Helin finally finds the person she dreams about, it is a surreal situation set against a very banal urban landscape, which adds to the confusing elements of the movie. It is never revealed who this person is and how he seemed to already know who Helin was.
The authenticity is also something to watch out for. I have been informed by a friend of Turkish-Kurdish background that the region where Helin is supposed to come from is not even a Muslim region, so there is no reason for her to be wearing the chador. Also, the fact that her grandmother back in the little Kurdish village is able to write emails and send photos as attachments is astounding to say the least.
Despite the above-mentioned problems, I found the movie easy to relate to and the characters are likable and do break some traditional stereotypes. However, more handling of the individual issues brought up in the film would have given it the depth that it was unfortunately lacking.
Too many issues are dealt with in this movie, and each one is only touched on superficially. The issue of culture shock appears in the form of Helin travelling from the Kurdish region of Turkey to Berlin, Germany, wearing a chador. The audience expects to experience her difficulties in adjusting to life in this modern metropolis, yet her sudden transformation into a normal Western teenager is as if by magic. Turkish labour migration to Germany also serves as one of the background themes of the plot, yet the only insight we gain into this is Helin's sister crying about "not being able to grow up in my native country" and Helin's mother and her Georgian chef pretending to be Italian in the Italian restaurant and pub the mother runs. Sociologists could have a field day with this 'double alienation' of these migrants yet this is not dealt with any further either.
The running thread through the movie is in the form of a white feather that Helin dreams about - she dreams that the feather will guide her the right way and to the right person. In the foreground her struggle to come to terms with her mother's abandonment of her as a child plays out, in which some emotionally charged words are exchanged in some dramatic scenes, but again, the issues seem to resolve themselves without much dialogue. When Helin finally finds the person she dreams about, it is a surreal situation set against a very banal urban landscape, which adds to the confusing elements of the movie. It is never revealed who this person is and how he seemed to already know who Helin was.
The authenticity is also something to watch out for. I have been informed by a friend of Turkish-Kurdish background that the region where Helin is supposed to come from is not even a Muslim region, so there is no reason for her to be wearing the chador. Also, the fact that her grandmother back in the little Kurdish village is able to write emails and send photos as attachments is astounding to say the least.
Despite the above-mentioned problems, I found the movie easy to relate to and the characters are likable and do break some traditional stereotypes. However, more handling of the individual issues brought up in the film would have given it the depth that it was unfortunately lacking.
