Die Fremde (2010)

Directed by: Feo Aladag | 119 minutes | drama | Actors: Sibel Kekilli, Nizam Schiller, Derya Alabora, Settar Tanriogen, Tamer Yigit, Serhad Can, Almila Bagriacik, Florian Lukas, Nursel Köse, Blanca Apilanez Fernandez, Alwara Höfels, Ufuk Bayraktar, Rosa Enskat, Aram Arami, Orhan Hasanovicer, , Mustafa Jouni, Seckin Orhan, Marlon Pulat

The German film ‘Die Fremde’ deals with the phenomenon of honor killing. A young Turkish woman flees her greedy husband and takes her son to her family in Berlin. The male part of that family would rather see her return to her husband today than tomorrow, but the female part is not really happy with her arrival either. All because the family’s honor has been tarnished.

It produces a melodrama that is never completely convincing. Few would argue that honor killings should be eradicated as soon as possible. But anyone who makes a film about honor killings will have to make it tangible how important family honor is in traditional Turkish families. In the slightly feminist ‘Die Fremde’ credit is dismissed as typically male, so by definition bad. Of course we are supposed to sympathize with the main character Umay when she is rejected by her family, but that the same relatives are rejected by the Turkish community is their problem.

It is also remarkable how Umay develops from docile daughter to adamant young woman. She wants absolute freedom for herself and to remain part of her family. To achieve that, she stomps like an elephant through the Turkish china shop. She makes a fuss at her sister’s wedding and forces herself on her father, because she believes that everything should go the way she wants. It doesn’t cross her mind that you can’t achieve some things without making sacrifices. It ultimately makes the character – who once agreed to marry a traditional man and later behaves as if she doesn’t understand her own culture – credible.

By exposing the matter unilaterally, ‘Die Fremde’ loses its power of persuasion and sympathy. What could have been a fine study of the conflict between individual and shared interests is now becoming an easy indictment. We’ve known for some time that honor killing is a bad thing, we didn’t need this film for that: a traditional melodrama that gets stuck in good intentions.