Posts Tagged ‘German Film’

Head-On Collision: The German-Turkish Culture Clash in Fatih Akin’s Film


2011
06.26

The film Head-On explores the dark side of the German-Turkish culture clash and how it plays out in the lives of two individuals living in Hamburg. Cahit is the son of Turkish immigrants living in Germany and does not have a strong connection with his Turkish roots. Yet, despite the fact that he lives like a German, dresses like a German, and speaks German, he is still discriminated against because of his Turkish heritage. Essentially, he has no clear-cut nationality, unable to identify fully with either culture. Unlike Cahit, Sibel is unable to break away from her Turkish roots. The film does not attempt to simplify the collision of cultures; instead, it presents the issue as ambiguous and open-ended. It offers no solution, only begs awareness and attempts to convey an internal struggle on film. Head-On is not only a depiction of the German-Turkish culture clash in German society, but also of the identity crises of the individuals who are both German and Turkish, and the internal collision that occurs—a collision that is universal in nature, and can pertain to many other countries as well as just Germany.

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