If you are sensitive, it will become a laugh.

Anderson 2022-07-16 20:43:35

A "percent white" German girl with a mouthful of ecological protection and a Turkish boy who has not passed the high school graduation exam three times and has a serious chauvinist tendency staged a romantic and funny story of survival on an isolated island.
At the beginning of the film, what we showed us was the labels from the respective cultural backgrounds affixed to the male and female protagonists. Especially the family of Turks. As a minority, he always shows all kinds of ridicule and contempt for other ethnic groups, which often becomes the source of laughter in the film. For example, the old policeman taught his son aloud when he went out: "You are a Turk from Zehlendorf, not Neuköln!" These two place names are two administrative districts of Berlin, the former is inhabited by the richer local people, the latter On the other hand, most of them are foreign immigrants (especially Turks), and they are even known for their chaotic law and order (I once encountered supermarket robbery in this area in broad daylight). For another example, the male protagonist expresses his contempt for blacks and East Asians (Reisfresser) without hesitation on the plane, causing the two black and Asian passengers next to him to lay guns for no reason. Of course, jokes about Muslims are even more essential. The female protagonist accused the male protagonist's sister of wearing a headscarf, like a terrorist who would pull out a bomb from her arms at any time to hijack a plane or something.
There are many such jokes about race and prejudice, including the fact that it is this racial and cultural difference that drives the constant conflict and reconciliation between the hero and heroine. In the wild, the smart German girl gradually realizes the responsibility behind the machismo of the Turkish lads, the sexual attraction of the raw power and the silliness revealed by the superficial imitation of current popular culture. In this way, this completely heterogeneous young man who deviates from the authentic German flavor completely conquered the hearts of German girls, intentionally or unintentionally. Love finally crosses "racial prejudice" and "cultural divide".
Of course, in the face of the current social reality in which the ethnic composition of Germany is gradually mixed, the so-called "cultural gap" is not a serious cultural gap, and "racial prejudice" is just a quotation mark with some political incorrectness. It's just a wandering argument.
In Germany, with the influx of immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s after the war, various social problems gradually emerged. Unlike the United States, which has a history of unification for more than 200 years, Germany's original ethnic composition is relatively single. The only Jews with a large population were also exterminated by Hitler. The ethnic group with the highest proportion of immigrants in Germany now is the Turkish-Muslims. Most of them immigrated as "Gastarbeiter" (guest laborers) in the 1950s and 1960s due to the lack of labor force in reconstruction. Most of them are now in Germany. Settled down, and already had a second and third generation. Since they came here to do manual labor, the status of the Turkish ethnicity in German society is relatively low, and the cultural and religious beliefs are quite different (of course, they look completely different, among a group of blond and blue-eyed Germanic people) The recognition rate is still quite high), so the integration of the Turks in the local area is not optimistic, especially compared to the "deeply hidden" ethnic group such as the Jews. In Berlin, Turkish Muslims mainly live in the Neuköln district, which is generally considered to have poor living conditions and a poor public security environment. Because of Germany's democratic political system, these social issues are widely discussed and controversial. On the one hand, Germanic Germans, based on the deep-rooted concept of a nation-state, do not want to see their country "gradually occupied by foreigners". The way of life of Muslims is very different from this, so the identity of Muslim foreigners will be more noticeable; on the other hand, as the former Hakka labor force, Turkish people are naturally dissatisfied with their social status and want to fight for more social rights and interests. Blame the idea that the Germans now want to send them home as ungrateful.
The social contradictions that a large number of immigrants settled in, coupled with the dark history of the Holocaust in Germany, naturally made the Germans themselves follow many taboos on the topic of racial discrimination. The comedy is about making ambiguous jokes with these sharp, taboo things. It does not shy away from this realistic and poignant question, but flirts with taboos through a parody of everyday prejudices. Some ideas and prejudices that are usually not dared to be expressed in words are directly deduced and placed in front of the audience, until the audience realizes how ridiculous these things that are usually fleeting in their minds but are deeply ingrained in real situations will be. Germans secretly discriminate against Turkish Muslims in their hearts, but they do not know that Turks also hate Germans, and they also have their own pride, and they also despise blacks or Asians in their hearts. Racial discrimination is something that the superior side holds against the inferior side. It is not only a sin unique to the "excellent Aryans", but a universal one. When the Germans realize this, the original sin in their hearts has the possibility of dissipating, and the effect of comedy and light entertainment will come naturally. That's where comedy is funny, a scratch on a sensitive spot makes everyone amused.

View more about Türkisch für Anfänger reviews

Extended Reading

Türkisch für Anfänger quotes

  • Cem Öztürk: There I crash one time on a lonely island and no hot chicks around.

    [subtitled version]

  • Lena Schneider: You're such a good kisser!

    Cem Öztürk: That's my nose.

    [subtitled version]