gospodinBezkrai

Incredibly well-made documentary about the everyday history of Turkish gastarbeiters (guest workers) in Germany which is told through the community's music and by the words of the musicians - both by interviews with many (as I understand) once household names, but most of all, by the songs and the lyrics themselves! Very powerful social critique in four or five generations (since the 1960s) of pure poetry!

Also very original design and editing, lots of stunning archival footage. An incredible variety of musical genres.

Finally, it really lets you get a sense of the hardship, hope and disillusionment of the people who undertook that "invited" migration: the separation with their families and homeland, German society's hostility, the exploitation and precariousness, etc. Etc. - all told in authentic poetic terms.

Here is one of the songs to set you on the journey (in my humble 2nd hand translation):

They gave me a contract on the Istanbul train station Your new workplace is in Germany, they said Here is a ticket, one packet is allowed Come on, off you go - they sent us on a journey Ghermany, Ghermany - having got up to here, there is no way back.

The film was a favourite in the 2024 Bulgarian MENAR film festival and they are showing it again this year by popular demand.

Just to balance all the other over-enthusiastic reviews:

It is indeed a very well made feature, with some very clever cinematographic ideas, however it gives a two hours of very mundane viewing experience, of a couple of guys walking around the forest, having a very non-interesting conversations or sometimes telling fantastic stories, without their merit, deeper meaning or literary qualities being apparent to me. It was interesting to see Iran's modern middle-class youth, which rarely is a subject of Iranian films. However there was no character development, any kind of psychological or social commentary. One spends most of time trying to piece together the meaning of conversations that are just part of their lives, and to figure out if some point was intended by the director in any given scene, or not?

We were utterly bored, staying in the cinema only to see how the director could solve the end. The end scene is truly beautiful though!

A playful story with nostalgic tribute to the beauties of a time past - the 1960s. At the same time it educates about the oppression and revolutionary mood in Portugal and its colonies of that time. The plot follows black Angolan playboy's quest in good life in the both fixed and fluid hierarchies of colonial life. It paints a non-ideological picture where black Angolans and Portuguese may be friends, may get laid or even be comrades in the dream for independence, at the same time as colonial racism is widespread. The revolution is not perfect either...

All this is portrayed in very unassuming plot, as the protagonist's main aim is to take the most from the pleasures of youth while avoiding politics but that is hardly possible and makes for a constant stream of unexpended developments. A very nice and well done film!