Gegen die Wand

I have seen this movie before, so I did know exactly what to expect. I think that it's a really good film in some aspects, but not in others. I think that Sibel should have gone with him in the end :-(. They were meant for each other.

It's really intense, so much so that I question if they went too far. The Turks and the Germans do have really different cultures, but I think this movie exaggerates quite a bit. Another movie about this topic that is less intense and probably more close to reality is "Yasemin," if anyone is interested in watching it.

I thought that this film had a lot more to do with the changing Turkish identity than it did with any sort of Turkish-German interaction. The change in the Turkish identity is probably due at least in some part to being in Germany, but each generation goes through changes, that aren't necessarily based on being in another culture. That being said, I think this film portrays Turks in a very negative light. Turkish culture is presented as a hypocritical, male dominated society and few good parts of the culture are brought to light. There is some truth behind every portrayal, but I think this film simply went too far. I believe the film's goal was to go too far.

Here's some info on "Yasemin"

http://www.ivfk-thueringen.de/filmkatalog/eintrag.php?id=346

Some themes: honor, family, living between two cultures & wanting to identify with both, freedom

I really liked the readings. I thought it was interesting that some of the experiences were very similar, even though the people were very different. I would like to see the arrival camp that almost everyone talks about. They discuss some things about the language in the articles and I think it might be helpful for me to go there. I especially enjoyed the last article about "business camouflage." I think it's interesting because it happens in America too and no one really notices. Most Chinese restaurants in the US are run by Koreans. I didn't realize that people went to such extremes in Germany.