Film Review: Kebab Connection
Reviewed by Nima Nasri
11/8/22
Kebab connection was a very interesting film that combined comedic, cultural, and food related themes liked I’ve never seen before. As someone who doesn’t watch films too often, but appreciates the effort that goes into all aspects of filmmaking, I’m going to do my best to review this film based on a few different criteria including mostly the plot and theme, as I don’t want to waste time reviewing the production quality of a film that came out when I was literally three years old. The production quality and special effects of more modern films has increased a tad bit since those days. Enjoy.
Kebab connection started off with the viewing of the initial advertisement that the main character, Ibo, made for his Uncle’s kebab shop, which was criticized heavily due to its violent thematic direction. However, when the commercial is shown to the public, it receives high praise and ends with many people rushing over to the kebab shop to try the now infamous kebabs. During the coming weeks, Ibo’s girlfriend, Titzi, reveals that she is pregnant. This is where the bulk of the conflict arises as Ibo is forced to deal with pre-marital early fatherhood and disappointment with his own father. The film continues to unravel various forms of conflict which are masked with corny comedic scenes that bring warmth to a film that highlights issues with cultural differences.
The film has a strong theme of cultural conflict, as the main reason Ibo’s father is upset with his son isn’t even due to his young age, but rather that he impregnated a German woman. As Turkish immigrants, Ibo’s father stressed to him from a young age that the only romantic rule he had was for him to never impregnate a German woman, which is exactly what Ibo did. The cultural conflict is also present with Titzi, as one scene shows her mother asking her “Have you ever seen a Turkish guy with a baby carriage?” insinuating that Turkish men don’t care about raising children.
Overall, I’d say the movie has a direct relation to society as a whole. As humans, we tend to accept stereotypes and label as much as we can; it’s just our nature. In the movie, we can see a clear clash between Titzi’s mom, who believes that Ibo will leave her daughter, and Ibo’s father, who disapproves of Ibo impregnating a German woman. The reasoning behind both of their assumptions stems purely from racial knowledge, without individually considering each person as an individual. Unfortunately, we see this a lot in today’s society. People don’t like branching out and connecting with other races, even if it’s on a friendly level. They would rather be “comfortable” and believe the stereotypes that exist for the many races of people in our world, without having the courage or curiosity to speak to different individuals. People don’t realize that every human being is unique in their own way. Just because some people speak different languages or have traditions and practices that you may not practice, it doesn’t mean that they are actually any different than you at a core level, they have just been raised differently.
As the son of two Iranian immigrants who moved to the US over 25 years ago, I’ve definitely experienced this cultural bias on different occasions and at different levels. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to look past these differences and accept everyone for who they are as a person instead of categorizing people based on racial or other cultural traits. Kabab connection teaches valuable lessons regarding the formation of preconceived notions of people based on their race and cultural upbringing. It teaches us to treat everyone as individuals and respect the differences of culture. Just because someone is a certain race, it doesn’t mean that all of their actions and intentions will be in accordance to the stereotypes of that specific race.
Overall, I enjoyed watching Kebab Connection, as it was refreshing to see a movie that was able to display common cultural differences in a lighthearted way. That being said, the comedy used in the film was rather corny, as I mentioned earlier. I thought they could’ve done a better job with the screenwriting by inserting more clever jokes and perhaps elevating the sophistication of the plot. That being said, the lessons conveyed in the film are important and I’m glad the movie was able to do this in a warm manner.
7.4/10