Veysel (12), half Kurd, half Turk, fled from Turkey to Austria with his family and has only been living in Vienna for a few months. At school he is a shy outsider, who is considered a problem student because he doesn’t speak the language. At home his older brother Mazlum (18) rebels against their father, who in Mazlum’s eyes left the family to fend for itself for many years while he went off to be a Kurdish freedom fighter in the mountains. When the conflict between the father and the elder son culminates in an actual physical struggle, Mazlum runs away from home. This triggers an argument between the parents.
All these problems and conflicts threaten to overwhelm 12-year-old Veysel, if it weren’t for his only lifeline: the daydreams in which he seeks refuge with his precious Ana. Ana is a girl in his class with whom he is very much in love but who in reality knows nothing of his feelings for her.
At school the children have to recite a poem in German in front of the whole class. Veysel’s favorite poem is YOUR BEAUTY IS WORTH NOTHING…. by Asik Veysel. He decides to ask his neighbor to help him translate it into German. Cem is a 33-year-old Turkish macho who is having problems with his girlfriend and at first he stubbornly refuses, but when he realizes which poem it is, he agrees to help. Cem is surprised that a 12-year-old boy is interested in the music and lyrics of Asik Veysel, the most famous Turkish poet and singer of the twentieth century. With Cem’s help Veysel works hard and manages to memorize the poem in German, secretly hoping to impress Ana when he recites it in front of the class.
Then one day the police shows up at the family’s door – it seems they have picked up Mazlum and, what’s more, the whole family is in danger of being deported. This would shatter Veysel’s dream of his love for Ana, and his existential struggle in this new and foreign home begins.
Drama (2012). Director: Hüseyin Tabak. German with English subtitles.
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JOH-Learngerman@goethe.de by 24 August 2018.
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