Berlinale 2022: Andreas Dresen, “the strength of the weak” and the scandal of the “Taliban of Bremen”

Andreas Dresen, German director of “Rabiye Kurnaz against George W. Bush”, in the running for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2022. © Siegfried Forster / RFI

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

7 mins

With

, in the running for the Golden Bear, the German Andreas Dresen signs a sensitive and entertaining film in a 72nd edition marked by dystopian works.

Interview.

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Andreas Dresen succeeds in his comedy with a serious subject based on a real drama.

 recounts the victorious fight of a mother of Turkish origin in Bremen to free her son imprisoned in the American camp of Guantanamo, in Cuba.

Murat, 19, is innocent, but he had the imprudence to leave for Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. He will remain detained for five years.

RFI

Andreas Dresen

In a way, yes.

Knowing that for us, it's not so much a film about these political dysfunctions, but a film about the strength of the weak.

That even simple people can successfully defend themselves against the political conditions in the world.

So it's a story about the concrete case of Murat Kurnaz in Germany, but it's also a universal story about the fact that we don't always have to suffer what politics imposes on us.

We can stand up against it, each one of us.

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When things go wrong, we still have humor.

Is that why you staged this terrible injustice concerning a Guantanamo detainee in the form of a comedy

This idea came from the real Rabiye.

At first, I wouldn't have dared to do a comedy with Guantanamo in the background.

It seemed absurd.

But then I met Rabiye, Murat's mother, and she's like that!

She has that sense of humor!

When you meet her, you first notice her warm laugh.

When we talk about her, we can't talk without humor, it's part of her life.

And then, little by little, we thought that maybe it could be useful to give this aspect, because the subject itself is heavy enough, it has an incredible gravity and hurts.

It's also a drama, so it's liberating to be able to laugh every once in a while.

I was very happy at the premiere at the Berlinale Palace, because I had never seen this with spectators and I noticed how much we laughed.

And on the other hand, we also cried a lot.

It's a back and forth.

It was our goal, but we always know afterwards if it really works.

“Rabiye Kurnaz gegen George W. Bush” (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush) (Germany/France), by Andreas Dresen, in the running for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2022. © Andreas Hoefer / Pandora Film

The hero of the film is not Murat, the prisoner of Guantanamo, but his mother, Rabiye, who is in the kitchen, does the cooking and the ironing, when she is not crisscrossing the region at the wheel of her husband's Mercedes.

Did you find with Meltem Kaptan your Marianne Sägebrecht, the German star who broke our hearts and made us laugh at the same time

[Laughs] I would be delighted if Meltem Kaptan could make such a career.

It would be great for her.

She's a great actress.

A very fine, very intelligent woman.

For me, it's a stroke of luck to have found Meltem.

His main job is indeed – until now in any case – that of comedian.

You notice it when you work with her.

She has incredible timing.

This is seen in her stand-up shows, when she interacts with the audience.

We also notice it when she plays scenes.

But it does not only have this facet.

It can also be very soft and very permeable.

Sometimes, suddenly, she shows a child's face where you see her soul directly through her eyes.

It is a very great gift.

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An important theme in your film is the danger of accepting a retreat from the rule of law in times of crisis.

Another main theme is integration.

You wonder if there are really the same rights for people coming from other countries, like here from Turkey.

The absence of nationality is also mentioned.

On the other hand, you also bring out a relaxed approach in their relationship with Germany, for example when Rabiye drives around in a Mercedes or solemnly declares to his children

One can learn a lot from the original Rabiye.

She is a woman who always recovers.

She does not let herself down.

You can learn from her that you shouldn't be discouraged, that sometimes you have to see things from a different angle.

He is quite simply a person who never ceases to surprise us, like his approach to religion.

One day she said to me, “ 

 " Which sentence !

God is not there to impose rules on us, but he must help us get through life well.

Then I also find it very pleasant to feel that this Turkish culture, that I can experience in this Turkish family, is at the heart of German society.

She is here, she has arrived.

These people are part of it in the most natural way.

They change language like shirt, sometimes in the middle of a sentence.

That is why it is so shameful that German policy, when it comes to helping such a person, first asks for his nationality.

It makes me ashamed.

Rabiye Kurnaz vs George W. Bush" tells the true story of a mother who fought to bring her son back from Guantanamo, played with warmth and humor by actress Meltem Kaptan. Stefanie LOOS AFP

Murat is now a social worker in Bremen.

Twenty years after the start of this Guantanamo scandal, is German society now ready to look this story in the face, to recognize the innocence of this 19-year-old young man, denigrated at the time as "The Taliban of Bremen “, an innocence that has long been proven, but long kept secret

Personally, I would very much like Murat to be freed from these prejudices too.

At the time, when I read the headlines: “ 

 ”, I don't know exactly what I thought, but in any case, I wasn't suspicious enough.

We are quickly tempted to be fooled by such clichés: there is someone with a long beard... and we fall into this trap.

We should all be wary of this kind of information.

The policies of the time were also driven by fear.

They said to themselves: if we bring this Murat back to Germany, what will happen if something happens?

This has led to great injustice.

I think the majority of people in Germany are quite ready to finally revise Murat's judgment.

I just wish politics would too.

Serious political mistakes were made at the time, and they are actually proven.

German policy was not only inactive in bringing Murat Kurnaz from Guantanamo to Germany, it actively prevented it!

It's a big difference.

It's a big scandal.

And it's proven.

I find it really shameful that no one has said until today, “ 

 ”.

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