Shahada

This movie is one of the best German feature films, that i saw in the past decade, maybe it's because most of the actors where immigrants. The female lead role is played by Maryam Zaree and i think she has a great future as an actress if she keeps going like that. Her play was just excellent! Although the other actors where also very good. The movie takes place in Berlin (Germany) an shows the lifes of some people, while they struggle combining their western life and their Islamic religion. It gives a good perspective on the modern life of immigrants in Germany without judging anything. I highly recommend to go and watch the movie while it's still in cinemas. loved it!

This film deals with the religious believes of people (in this case Muslims and their believe in Islam) and how far they want to take it, how they decide to live their religion. The story follows a group of people, some of them related, and the way they deal with their every day life in combination with their religion. It follows them through difficult choices, through the turning points between being the person they are by nature or being the person their belief expects them to be.

In effect it is a drama like many religion based dramas before it. The choice for Islam is in that respect no different than the choice for any other kind of religion - they all feature the line between fundamentalism and an "open relation" with who or what you might believe in and the laws dictated by that religion through its holy books.

It isn't bad - not at all. It just isn't good. Films like Go With Peace Jamil, Gegen Die Wand and even Ae Fond Kiss deal with many of the same parts and are a fair deal better. I can't put a strict finger on the why of it - this film just misses some of their strength.

6 out of 10 broken dreams