Ghettokids

Christian Wagner (2002)

Germany and France

Genre: Drama

Ghettokids is the story of brothers Maikis and Christos, who live with their older brother and mother in a one-room flat in Hasenbergl, a deprived area of Munich. Having emigrated from Greece in the hope of a better life in Germany, they find themselves in crowded conditions with money being scarce and their homeland far away. What's more, being Turkish-speaking Greeks makes them outsiders even among the Turkish youths in the school they attend. They only refuge is the local youth club run by supportive social worker Xavier, but most of their time is spent hanging out at the railway station where the occasional trick and petty theft puts a little cash in their pockets. After some strong resistance, new teacher Hannah manages to win the boys' trust and when Maikia becomes the victim of a gang feud and lands in jail, Hanna intervenes on his behalf. A happy end? It almost looks like it, but for ghetto kids there are no fairy tales where people live happily ever after….(Summary from 6th German Film Festival, London, 2003). 

Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 19 Apr 2006 •

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