GERMANY, BITTER HOMELAND

Güldane is a young confident Turkish woman, who lives and works in Germany. She spends her summer holiday in Turkey, where she meets Mahmut. Mahmut wants to marry her just to have the opportunity to go to Germany. In exchange, he offers her money, which she accepts without showing any interest in him as a person. In Germany, her behaviour towards him changes when she is in need for protection from a man who is harassing her. Mahmut and Güdane start to become closer, but the hard life in Germany brings them more desperation than joy.

Almanya Acı Vatan (Germany, Bitter Home) by Şerif Gören, is considered a milestone in the German-Turkish migration cinema and is mostly shot in Berlin. Almanya Acı Vatan is the first exhaustive try in Turksih cinema to deal with the theme of migration to Germany. Leaving the traditional melodrama behind, it uses socialist realist elements to criticise society. The film shows the life of the so-called guest workers from a critical point of view.