Based on real events, Xatar's journey from the ghetto to the top of the music charts is as dramatic as it is adventurous: from the hell of an Iraqi prison, Giwar Hajabi comes to Germany with his family as a young boy in the mid-80s and ends up at the bottom. There are opportunities for the talented young musician, but there are many more obstacles. His career from smart petty criminal to big-time dealer and rap mogul moves quickly. Until a shipment he’s in charge of goes missing. To pay off his debts to the cartel, Giwar plans a legendary gold heist.
“RHEINGOLD is one of Akin's most personal films because he can let his love of music run wild. Where, how and under what conditions music is made is at least as important as the criminal activities of his protagonist. In prison, Xatar records the lines for his first CD. In addition, classical and Kurdish music are woven in just as intensively, and in one of the film's most frightening sequences, Khomeini's Revolutionary Guards shoot a musician and break instruments during a concert performance. And as the film begins, so it ends: with a story, a myth.” -- German Film Assessment Board
