FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Fatih Akin - Solino 

"We have become enemies"; such is the fate of the Parondi family in Visconti's "Rocco And His Brothers". The family, cornerstone of southern Italian tradition breaks up after they set off north to seek their fortune. In Fatih Akin's Solino, the Amato family heads to Duisburg, Germany's gray mining region. Sometime in the early 60s as what was then called "guest workers." They leave their beloved homeland of Solino in search of work. By train, father Romano (Gigi Savoia), Rosa (Antonella Attili) and their two young sons begin the journey. In the dreary Ruhr region, Romano soon decides to stop slaving underground and instead open an Italian restaurant bearing the name of their home: Solino. The restaurant flourishes while both sons are left to fend for themselves. Gigi (Barnaby Metschurat) quickly learns German, becomes fascinated by modern photography and eventually falls for cinema. Cut. The year is 1974, and Romano demands that his adult sons follow him into the restaurant business. But the sons love parties and girls, especially blonde Johanna (Patrycia Ziolkowska), with whom they share a shabby apartment - but not yet the bed. Gigi starts his film career, a short film of his is shown at a local film festival, and yet problems force the family to return to Solino. The last part takes place in the 80s. It is the part where the Amato family slowly breaks up.... Solino is an epic of modern Italian history and even if the word sounds a bit overused, "operetta-like" fits Akin's work. So much happens and in such complexity that we have the feeling of witnessing an opera. And just like in real operas, too many melodramatic climaxes are built into too little time.