Kleine Freiheit (German/Turkish) [A Little Bit Of Freedom]

A good part of this film focuses on friendship between 2 teenage boys. One of them is gay and we dont know for sure about the other but the films ends with focusing on their relationship. Just this is not the focus of the film. The film also focusses on Turkish/Kurdish immigrants in Germany and how they are dealing with their day to day life in Germany.

Baran is a young Kurd who is now illegaly in Hamburg working for a Turkish cafe owner along with his cousin who put him on this job. He came here after his parents, who had helped Kurdish rebels, were betrayed and subsequently killed by the Turkish militia. Now that Baran is 16, he is no longer allowed to stay in Germany and faces the bleak prospect of getting deported back. He meets Chernor, an African boy who has the same problem and trafficks drugs to make some money. Chernor is openly gay and their friendship has sexual overtones from the beginning. Baran also has very little interest in girls, even though a marriage might solve his immigration-related legal trouble. Things get even more complicated when Baran spots the traitor of his family and wants to kill him. However, the man pleads for his life and Baran spares him. After this act of forgiveness, Cherno and Baran get into physical intimacy but it is still not sure to what extent Baran enjoys it. Finally, both Cherno and Baran, who had made a desperate attempt to free Cherno, are arrested by the police. The film ends with Baran trying to save his friend from police thereby himself turning to the cops.

The acting from the main characters was very natural and real in my opinion. They did not give any impression of being actors. It also gave a very accurate depiction of Turkish-Kurdish conflicts. There were some very unnecessarily dragging small stories along the course of the film which really did not have much to do with the main film. The concept was interesting. I think the people from the region would be able to connect to the film more compared to an outsider to this world.

Strictly ok for me. I would categorize this as an artsy cinema and not commercial. (3/10)