Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos)

Fatih Akin(1998)

Germany

Genre:

Language: German (some Greek, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian)

This film is available as a DVD in the Project Library at Royal Holloway, University of London

Short, Sharp Shock, set in Hamburg, is a ghetto-centric gangster movie aesthetically modelled on Mean Streets by the Italian-American director Martin Scorcese while also betraying numerous affinities with Matthieu Kassovitz’s La Haine.  Like La Haine, Short Sharp Shock tells the story of a multi-cultural trio of friends -  Gabriel the Turk, Costa the Greek and Bobby the Serb. Gabriel, who has just been released from prison, is determined to stay well clear of the crimes in which Bobby and Costa are involved. Instead he intends to earn his living as a taxi driver in order to save up to start a new life in Turkey. However, when his friends get involved with and are killed by the Albanian mafia Gabriel needs to avenge the death of his friends by killing the mafia boss. At the end of the film, Gabriel buys a one-way ticket to Turkey, bids farewell to his German girlfriend, joins his Muslim father in prayer and is determined to escape the mafia, the police and the world of crime by returning to Turkey. 

Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 19 Apr 2006 • Discuss this Film