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| Umay (Sibel Kekilli) in When We Leave. |
Opening Night a success
By Don Simpson
When Umay (Sibel Kekilli) flees Istanbul with her five-year-old son (Nizam Schiller) in order to escape her abusive husband (Ufuk Bayraktar), she never truly contemplates just how unwelcome her family reception in Berlin will be. Never mind that her husband beat her regularly and cruelly punishes their son, the worst evil committed is the loss of honor to her conservative Turkish immigrant family name. Umay is dubbed the “deutschwhore” sister and shunned as the family outcast. Exiled from her family home Umay soldiers on, lugging her son between safe houses and friends’ homes all the while attempting to rebuild her life in Berlin.
The Opening Night Night Film at this year's German Currents: New Films from Germany showcase, Austrian director Feo Aladag’s When We Leave (Die Fremde) brutally -- yet quite effectively -- examines Umay’s struggle for personal freedom. A heart-wrenching saga of a woman who attempts to dodge extreme cultural prejudices and judgments in order to escape domestic abuse. But it is through the brutality, that we discover that When We Leave is also a story about the struggle for compassion and the inescapable pull of family love. When We Leave was submitted by Germany as their official selection for the 2011 Oscars.
When Umay (Sibel Kekilli) flees Istanbul with her five-year-old son (Nizam Schiller) in order to escape her abusive husband (Ufuk Bayraktar), she never truly contemplates just how unwelcome her family reception in Berlin will be. Never mind that her husband beat her regularly and cruelly punishes their son, the worst evil committed is the loss of honor to her conservative Turkish immigrant family name. Umay is dubbed the “deutschwhore” sister and shunned as the family outcast. Exiled from her family home Umay soldiers on, lugging her son between safe houses and friends’ homes all the while attempting to rebuild her life in Berlin.
The Opening Night Night Film at this year's German Currents: New Films from Germany showcase, Austrian director Feo Aladag’s When We Leave (Die Fremde) brutally -- yet quite effectively -- examines Umay’s struggle for personal freedom. A heart-wrenching saga of a woman who attempts to dodge extreme cultural prejudices and judgments in order to escape domestic abuse. But it is through the brutality, that we discover that When We Leave is also a story about the struggle for compassion and the inescapable pull of family love. When We Leave was submitted by Germany as their official selection for the 2011 Oscars.
The Opening Night film was followed by a party in the Egyptian Theatre courtyard where filmmakers such as Jan Tenhaven -- whose reportedly heartwarming documentary about five senior athletes between 82 and 100 years old, Autumn Gold (Herbstgold), screens Saturday -- filmgoers and local Germans mingled, talked film, drank Becks (the festival ran out of wine very quickly) and noshed on Mediterranean as well as German cuisine. On many accounts, When We Leave was well received at its West Coast premiere.
Writer John Esther contributed to this article.
