"It would be better if she was born a boy" German cinema moves from difficult historical themes to the social themes of our days, and now the Oscar-2011 claims not a story about the ghosts of the past and former heroes, but a bitter family drama from the life of the Turkish diaspora in the heart of modern Germany. Feo Aladagh draws the story of a young Umai who decided to escape with her son from her husband, who was used to assault, from Turkey to her parents’ home in Germany.
According to the laws adopted in the Muslim community, the wife does not have the right to simply leave her husband; the child in any case remains with the father. The observance of these traditions in the Umai environment is not conditioned by an internal awareness of their importance, but is a means of strengthening the status of the family in the face of the community.
In "Alien" the first place is occupied by the family. Family communication is given the most screen time. Umai with her sister and younger brother lovingly remember a happy cloudless childhood. With parental warmth the refugee father and mother. But fearful of being marginalized by the community for their daughter’s “shame,” they are forced to follow the rules. The family is caught between the wall of community law and love for Umai.
For Umai, the atmosphere of closeness of the family creates a shelter, a place of imprisonment, in contrast to the cold external environment, which brings both freedom and unbearable loneliness. From him, Umai runs back to his family. Whose love will be stronger?
The film accurately, categorically, but with the right degree of political correctness reveals the problem of “honour crimes” in Islamic society. There are no ready-made solutions, but there is hope that the power of love will help both to understand each other and to make someone else's choice.
9 out of 10
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