Der Albaner

I'm not even sure if it can be called small city. But that aside, someone who has never been to the city sees himself pressured to go there ... because of money. I mean it's always that - but his motives are pure and full of love - literally.

The troubles and tribulations he has to go through are something to behold. And while you can predict certain developments in the story, the pacing is still nice to say the least. You have to like dramas and movies that feel almost like a documentary - because that is what you are getting here.

Excellent, well-acted tale concerning an Albanian immigrant who leaves his village for Germany, where he tries to make the money needed to marry his girlfriend back home. Albanian custom dictates that the groom must pay a large dowry to the girl's family before they can wed, and in this case the girl is pregnant, so there is little time to lose. Having no working papers, Arben must really scrounge to make even a small amount of money. He eventually is forced to turn to crime to get what he needs, in order to return to his girl.

During the film, we see this character go through changes, from naive country boy, who can barely figure out how to use a computer, then becoming slowly disillusioned with the world he thought he understood. In the end, he develops a hard edge when things begin to go wrong, and he becomes desperate. When he finally returns to his homeland, things do not go as expected.

Of course this is hardly the first time this kind of tale has been told, but it is important to see and understand what people go through when coming to a new country to make a life for themselves. The world can be so cold and unforgiving for those without money or status. We learn from films like these how basically good people resort to questionable means to survive, because survival is human instinct, and life IS survival. Great movie, and a powerful drama.