Almanya: Willkommen in Deutschland

The movie plots on two opposite lines the story of Turk family on the way to Germany as foreign workers, and their way back to Turkey. The relationship between the Turkish guests and the German hosts are idealistically depicted - the Germans love their Turkish hard-workers (if things are so happy, why Turkey has been time and again declined from joining the European Union?), the Turkish family is completely modern - like a normal Westernized family : they react tolerantly to their young daughter who gets pregnant from a non-German guy (no word on the common and prevalent honor-killings among the Turks in Germany, no word on arranged marriage which is also the very common among Turks in Germany, etc.) I've been living many years in Germany, and the story this movie tells us is completely unconvincing.

As far as the artistic sides of the movie are concerned, it starts as a comedy and suddenly, with no seen reason, it turns into saccharine melodrama. The performance, the dialogs, the mimic and gestures reminded me of typical German TV commercials for Washing Powder, Yogurt, etc.

I watched this movie with my husband, and we couldn't stop laughing! It was such a funny take at life in Germany, one of the precious few German comedies that actually makes you laugh!

The movie is the story of a family's roots, about their experience moving from Eastern Turkey to Germany. The movie shows different phases in this family's story: from their grandparents' courtship in rural Turkey to the day they become German citizens many years later. The story is full of funny anecdotes regarding new places, a new language, different food, a different culture, and how to relate to them. I think any immigrant living in Germany - and not just Turks - can relate to some of the experiences the film shows... On the other hand, I saw it in Germany with a very mixed audience and the whole movie theater was roaring in laughter, so I think the movie also tickled non-immigrant Germans' funny bone.

Nevertheless, as much as I loved this movie, I don't know if someone who does not speak German or has not been to Germany would be able to understand the jokes... There is a lot of language humor and many local references, so it might not be very universal. I think the previous reviewer certainly did not get the humor...But for someone acquainted with German culture, food, etc. this movie is fantastic, and, as I said, it is one of those few German comedies which makes you LAUGH!!!

I like this movie because it doesn't show the pain, complexity, difficult lives in a dramatic manner. Instead, it adds humors while showing the reality. When Turkish workers move to Germany, it was hard times for them. They worked all the time and continue to their life in a very bad conditions. Then their families also moved to Germany. Thsese time their children and their grand children live adaptation problems. This film shows in a funny manner staying between two cultures.

What else I like about this film is also the characters and the settings were very natural. I believe this film increase the empathy of Germans and Turks to each other.

A really good start, with a lot of intercultural jokes, between Turkish and German lifestyles and biases. The movie unfortunately loses some weight after the first half and tries to mix emotion at the end, not in a very convincing way. Goes for an average 7.

I'd still advise in favor of this movie, with such a nice and funny first half.

I went to see Almanya (the Turkish word for "Germany") expecting to see a movie on the level of e. g. "Süperseks" -- harmless, contrived and predictable. My girlfriend wanted to see it, and I'm smart enough to give in to her once in a while, it's called tactics. I was all the more surprised to see an insightful and witty film that plays with clichés but doesn't pander to them. The story of a family of three generations of Turkish immigrants is revealed through flashbacks -- how young Turkish lovers elope from Anatolia without ever having spoken to each other before: a quintessential story of couth romance, even though it is revealed later in the film that pregnancy also played a slight role in this development. I also liked the gadget that the Turks speak German while the Germans speak a sort of Teutonic gibberish: that way, the movie delivers some real insight how arriving in Germany must have felt like. And also the idea that the movie portrays the life of not the famous one-millionths, but of the one-million-and-first "guest worker". So, welcome to Almanya, enjoy your stay!