Sensitive study
Elegant drama «Égalité» by Kida Khodr Ramadan
Burak Yigit as Attila in a scene from the film «Égalité». Photo: – / Alpha Centauri Studios / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
A young father feels discriminated against, is afraid for his daughter and seeks revenge. Kida Khodr Ramadan’s new film captivates with its precise milieu depiction and empathy.
Born in Germany but not quite at home in this cold country: the children and grandchildren of migrant workers from southern Europe often find themselves somewhere between two worlds. And the way from Berlin to Istanbul can be very long.
The silent drama «Égalité», the second directorial work by the actor and screenwriter Kida Khodr Ramadan, who was best known as the leading actor in the Kiez series «4 Blocks», tells of this dichotomy within the postmigrant generation. The son of Lebanese immigrants, who was born in Beirut in 1976 and has lived in Berlin since childhood, has long been one of the most famous faces on the German film scene.
You feel marginalized
In his new drama, Ramadan tells of the young family man Attila (Burak Yiğit), who is completely unbalanced after an apparently harmless tonsil operation on his 14-year-old daughter Leila. When Leila wakes up after the anesthetic, she can no longer see anything. Attila and his pregnant wife Aya (Susana AbdulMajid) feel discriminated against and abandoned by the doctors, increasingly falling on deaf ears and falling more and more into a deep emotional hole.
“If I am a second class person, I am worthless,” complains Attila when he is turned away again. When the desperate father finally kidnaps the two responsible doctors and interrogates them at home in the basement, the situation seems to escalate.
Kida Khodr Ramadan’s less than perfect, but sensitive film conveys the insecurity of its protagonist in a haunting way. How are you supposed to be a father and a role model if you are not sure about your own identity? Leading actor Burak Yiğit (“Victoria”) shows with feverish intensity how a person who feels constantly discriminated against and cheated of his rights can get lost.
This 80-minute long film is a bit fragmentary, sometimes the music is applied too thickly, but Constantin Lieb’s script (“Fabian or The Walk to the Dogs”) has a big surprise in store at the end. And you don’t reveal too much when you realize that it’s women again who shed light on this dark drama. Then Istanbul with its colors and smells is suddenly very close.
Égalité, Germany 2021, 80 min., FSK from 12, by Kida Khodr Ramadan, with Burak Yiğit, Susana AbdulMajid