You can twist and turn it as you like, but often you search in vain for authentic environmental studies in Germany. Especially if they also have a clear link with hip-hop culture. Although Fatih Akin’s “Rheingold” ripped powerfully through the almost unbelievable vita of mobster rapper Xatar (played here by Emilio Sakraya) last year, it ultimately lacked the last bit that elevates a “well-intentioned” to a “well-done.” But that’s no comparison to the 2010 Bushido biopic “Times Change You.”
For the first time, a lot of money was spent in Germany to make a film about a very controversial rapper and the realities of his life. The result, however, was a debacle that only sought to cultivate Bushido’s image. But no trace of authenticity. Especially with regard to the language, “Zeitenchange Dich” was the purest trash event, failing here for two reasons: Bushido is not a good actor and the dialogues seemed stilted, imitated and exhibited.
No foreign disgrace, but facts
But this is where “Sonne und Beton” comes into play, which does for the German cinema film exactly what “4 Blocks” did for the local series landscape a few years ago: it sketches a credible and tangible environment. You notice that there were people involved in the project who are not entirely alien to the world depicted here. And that’s an understatement: Felix Lobrecht, who provided the original and co-screenwriter, grew up in Neukölln-Gropiusstadt. He knows this area, which was created at the drawing board, and likes to ignore the human factor.
In “Sun and Concrete” everything revolves around the clique of young Lukas (Levy Rico Arcos), who suddenly gets a lot of stress on his cheek in the summer of 2003: after he received a big slap in the face, he ends up with the local dealers with 500 euros in debt. Together with his buddies, he then forges a plan to rid his school of the new computers. What should have been very simple is getting more and more complicated – making bigger and bigger waves.
Anyone who has ever been to Neukölln – or explicitly Gropiusstadt – knows that these cities have a very own jargon is spoken, which consists of German and Turkish or Arabic. Often filled to the brim with vulgarisms, this language can be irritating or exhausting to many outsiders because it is often unstructured and rarely follows any internal sentence structure. Exactly this street language is the heart of “Sonne und Beton”.
Because almost no other film from Germany in recent years has managed to spit out a flippant “Wallah, I’m fucking your mother, yes!” appear authentic. For – if you refer back to “Times change you” – these kinds of sentences always seemed like they were written by someone over 50 who pretends to have some common ground with today’s youth language. At “Sonne & Beton” you notice that the participants understand the environment and at the same time have sympathy for it.
The fact that the cast not only comes largely directly from the neighborhood and is practically hired from the schools and from the street, but is also filmed on location, clearly underlines once again the authenticity factor of “Sonne und Beton”. And that’s probably the highest praise you can give the movie: it looks real.
Is “Sun and Concrete” still worth it?
Yes, “Sonne und Beton” is authentic, but can it still convince? Again, the answer is simple: absolutely! In our official FILMSTARTS review, Felix Lobrecht’s adaptation received a strong 4 out of 5 possible stars. Our author Lars Christian Daniels writes in his conclusion:
The official MOVIE STARTS review of “Sun and Concrete”
“’Sonne und Beton’ lives up to the hype which, after the success of the novel, is so great in the run-up to the film that the star’s entire cinema tour was sold out within hours. ‘Wetlands’ director David Wnendt skilfully puts Berlin under the magnifying glass. Sonne und Beton convinces as an authentic genre cinema that is rarely seen in this country.”