Book Review: “Ohne Fleiss kein Reis: Wie ich ein guter Deutscher wurde”
As part of their work for the Multicultural Germany undergraduate seminar at UC Berkeley, students in the course have reviewed recent German books relating in various ways to topics of migration, multiculturalism, and contemporary German identity. Tanja Mehlo reviewed Martin Hyun’s 2012 Ohne Fleiss kein Reis: Wie ich ein guter Deutscher wurde: Ohne Fleiß kein Reis was written […]
Inch’Allah dimanche (Sunday God Willing)
The story of an immigrant woman struggling against old world traditions. Zouina leaves her homeland with her three children to join her husband in France, where he’s been living for the past ten years. In a land and culture foreign to her, Zouina struggles against her mother-in-law’s tyrannical hand and her husband’s distrustful bitterness in […]
Elefantenherz (Elephant Heart)
Daniel Brühl stars as a talented boxer, accepting an offer of a dubious businessman to become a professional. Marko Stemper, 19 years old, comes from a disadvantaged background and works as a window cleaner. His father, an alcoholic, tyrannizes the whole family, so Marko’s only joy in life is boxing. As he is the most […]
Die Kümmeltürkin geht (Melek Leaves)
The subject of this well-intentioned documentary on the expulsion of Turkish citizens from Germany is Melek Tez, a basically disgruntled, 38-year-old woman who does not give the impression she would be happy anywhere. As director Meerapfel follows Melek through the bureaucratic maze that will eventually supply her with a certain amount of funds on her […]
Aprilkinder (April Children)
Aprilkinder refers to the children of the Turkish guest workers in Germany, most of whom are born in April simply because they are conceived in July during the father’s annual trip back to Turkey. Cem works in a sausage factory to support the family. His brother Mehmet sees dealing drugs as his best chance in […]
Ali au pays des mirages (Ali in Wonderland )
Arab life in Paris is seen from the perspective of this Algerian director (Ahmed Rachidi) as he explores issues relating to the French drive to deport Arab workers, and the workers views as to whether or not they would want to leave, and why. Many aspects of Arab life in this foreign setting come forward […]
Der falsche Inder
Ein geheimnisvolles arabisches Manuskript im ICE Berlin-München, das niemandem zu gehören scheint und worin acht Mal auf verschiedene Weise die Lebensgeschichte desjenigen erzählt wird, der es zufällig findet und liest: Dieses Romandebüt handelt von der Flucht eines jungen Irakers, der unter Saddam Hussein im Gefängnis saß und vor Krieg und Unterdrückung flieht, sich in mehreren […]
The Infidel (Alles Kosher!)
Based in a London suburb Mahmud Nasir lives with his pretty wife, Saamiya, and two children, Rashid and Nabi. His son plans to marry Uzma, the step-daughter of Egyptian-born Arshad Al-Masri, a so-called ‘Hate Cleric’ from Waziristan, Pakistan. Mahmud, who is not exactly a devout Muslim, he drinks alcohol, and does not pray five times, […]