What do two movies, one directed by an Austrian and the other by a Dutchman, playing in theaters right now have in common?
Both Die Fremde (When We Leave) and Takiye: Allah’ın Yolunda (In the Name of God) feature Turkish characters in their leads. Both films tell the stories of Turkish immigrants living in Europe and of characters who feel stuck between two cultures, two countries and between tradition and modernity.
Die Fremde stars Sibel Kekilli, the poster girl for Turkish immigrants in cinema, in an award-winning performance.
Director Feo Aladağ’s debut feature tells the story of Umay, a Turkish woman whose family lives in Germany. The film begins as she ends her marriage, running away from her thuggish husband with her son back to her family in Berlin. She finds out that it doesn’t really matter whether she’s in Turkey or Germany – as long as she’s a single mother, traditions work the same for a Turkish woman, even if she’s right in the middle of a culture with gender equality.
Director Ben Verlong’s Takiye: Allah’ın Yolunda is a genre-bending movie, a thriller that looks deep into the problems faced by Muslims in Europe in the last decade.
