Mixed Kebab (Turkish/Dutch)

I watched a gay film after a really really long time. And I am glad that it wasn't a bad one. I was hesitant on which movie to pick up, since there was long break but thankfully, this film almost met my expectations. I guess the trick is not to have huge expectations in the first place. The film with hits Turkish background became even more appealing to me for reasons known to people who know me. The film deals with social and religious equality for gays, religious fundamentalism and about divided identities.

Film's protagonist is Ibrahim, a Turkish origin guy in Belgium who would rather be called as Bram and identified as Belgian. He is Muslim and is gay. With this the platform is set. He is smitten by Kevin, the son of a woman running a local diner. They become friends but soon we also find out that Bram is all set to marry his cousin back in Turkey. Bram's family is traditional Turkish family. His younger brother Furkan is an angry teenager, who skips school, commits robberies and roams around aimless. His father is always shameful of his acts. When Bram gets to go to Turkey to confirm his wedding plans to his uncle and his cousin, he decides to take Kevin along with him asa friend. Till this point the two guys are nothing more than friends. Their mutual admiration and closeness doesn't go unnoticed by the hotel porter who snaps a couple of pictures of the 2 men together in compromising position. It is during their stay in Turkey that finally the 2 men become physically closer as well and finally realize that they both love each other. It turns out that this porter has been folioing around with Bram's supposed to be wife. When this porter shows those pictures to Bram's fiancé, she cries but ignores because she is hell bent on moving to Europe to get alive for herself but in the process she makes sure to get a lot of money spent from Bram to keep her mouth shut about the whole gay thing on Bram. The boys come back and it seems life will be back to normal but someone from Turkey send those pictures to Bram's family who are shocked by the entire episode. His father shuns him and tells him that he is hence dead for him. Bram takes up job with Kevin's mother in their diner but misses his family. Furkan's bad ways catch up to him when an old enemy attacks him and stabs him. This is when Kevin and Bram help him and take him to the hospital. Initially awkward, Brams' parents accept him but remain cold to Kevin. The film ends with Kevin leaving the hospital and Bram walking away with his family.

In my opinion the end of the film has been left for the viewer's own interpretation on whether Kevin breaks up with Bram or not. I myself can interpret both ways and thats why I think it was the right way to end this film. Clearly Bram loves his family and they also love him but the whole gay thing is too much for them. It is now unto Bram on how he manages to balance his boyfriend Kevin with his parents. The film thankfully is not just about homosexuality. It is also about lost identities, racism for immigrants, how people long for something that they don't have. The film was interesting by surprisingly very high standard of acting by everyone involved. The film had some light moments as well which kept the overall tone of the film decent and not too heavy. Ibrahim/Bram acted really well although somehow I was not able to connect with his conflict. Kevin acted really nice and so did Bram's father. The scene where no one talks to him in the turkish cafe was very poignant.

Overall a very decent watchable film in the sleuth of crappy gay films that are served these days. (6.5/10)