A very enlightening documentary portraying a 25 year old German woman (Luise) who converted to Islam at 19 yrs., gradually conforming more to the rules of her newly found belief. She is married to an Algerian man (Mohammed) who went to Germany to avoid military service (meaning: possibly killing other humans in a politically turbulent Algeria) and to study software engineering. While the documentary was made, the couple was living in with Luisa's parents in their house in Germany.
Much of the film's potential stems from the intense emotional and intellectual controversy that is due to the tension between Luise's parents' rather progressive style of living, and Luise's and Mohammed's Islamic belief system. There is deep love between the parents and their daughter, that's probably what keeps them together and prevents their connection from breaking.
Luise's mother earns the family's income, while her father (Mateng) works as a dadaist performance artist. Mateng's 'Theatre du pain' is at times considered funny by Mohammed and Luise, yet both are deeply offended by some of the Theatre's material (of which excerpts are shown), letting the young couple conclude to never again visit any of their father's performed art.
Faced with Mohammed's views, Mateng feels his sense of manhood questioned. Luise's feminist mother, fearing to lose her daughter to this unknown and strange religion, is totally perplexed and helpless when confronted with her daughter's firm belief in a paradisaical afterlife, where she will finally be able to enjoy all the things that she refuses to indulge in this present world (like e.g. swimming at the beach), the refusal being a necessity due to her submission to god.
While this portrayal of a western convert might not be representative, it helps me as a German agnostic with only few acquaintances of Islamic belief (none of them really strict believers) to get an idea of what can happen when these cultures get in touch, and when so much seems to be at stake.
Much of the film's potential stems from the intense emotional and intellectual controversy that is due to the tension between Luise's parents' rather progressive style of living, and Luise's and Mohammed's Islamic belief system. There is deep love between the parents and their daughter, that's probably what keeps them together and prevents their connection from breaking.
Luise's mother earns the family's income, while her father (Mateng) works as a dadaist performance artist. Mateng's 'Theatre du pain' is at times considered funny by Mohammed and Luise, yet both are deeply offended by some of the Theatre's material (of which excerpts are shown), letting the young couple conclude to never again visit any of their father's performed art.
Faced with Mohammed's views, Mateng feels his sense of manhood questioned. Luise's feminist mother, fearing to lose her daughter to this unknown and strange religion, is totally perplexed and helpless when confronted with her daughter's firm belief in a paradisaical afterlife, where she will finally be able to enjoy all the things that she refuses to indulge in this present world (like e.g. swimming at the beach), the refusal being a necessity due to her submission to god.
While this portrayal of a western convert might not be representative, it helps me as a German agnostic with only few acquaintances of Islamic belief (none of them really strict believers) to get an idea of what can happen when these cultures get in touch, and when so much seems to be at stake.