Kebab Connection

Anno Saul (2005)

Germany

Genre: Comedy

Culture-clash comedy which centres on Bruce Lee fan and young Turkish hip-hopper Ibo, who lives in Hamburg and dreams of making the first-ever German kung-fu film. He practises by making an extremely successful cinema commerial for his uncle's kebab take-away, King of Kebab. Such is the impact of Ibo's commercial that the business of the  Turkish kebab restaurant sky-rockets at the expense of the Greek taverna across that road. Ibo enjoys his success but then problems occur when his German girlfriend and aspiring actress Titzi tells him she is pregnant. Ibo's traditional Turkish father is at first opposed to a German-Turkish relationship and Ibo is not sure as to whether he is ready to commit. But in the end Ibo and Titzi form a happy family, Ibo even supports his girl friend's career as an actress by signalling that he is prepared to revise his Turkish views on gender roles and he is even given a chance to put his kung-fu talents to the test.

Kebab Connection has been described as Germany's answer to multicultural comedies such as Bend it Like Beckham or My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on account of not shying away from a self-mocking use of cultural stereotypes. Cinephiles will find countless references to kung-fu films, Tarantino films and even Eisenstein's classic The Battleship Potemkin

Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 19 Apr 2006 •

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