Zimtstern und Halbmond (2010)

Gottfried Hinrichs and his wife Lisbeth celebrate Christmas together at their home on Lake Ammersee. For this very occasion, their only daughter Barbara surprises them by bringing her new partner from Bethlehem: Kamal is a Palestinian Muslim. Gottfried tries at any cost to sabotage the relationship and send the man from the East back home by every means of psychological warfare. At first, Kamal is ready to give up and leaves when he realizes he is not welcome. But Barbara refuses to give up so easily and brings him back, followed by her father, whom his wife has talked some sense into. Harmony between the two generations, however, is another matter, and Gottfried and Kamal engage in a full-blown war of words. While Barbara’s father thinks he must teach the stranger German values and Christianity, Kamal counters with facts. Countless German words, such as “cinnamon” and even “alcohol,” originally come from Kamal’s homeland, and Jesus was, after all, a Jew. Gottfried finds this very hard to stomach. He also fears that Kamal might be a terrorist in disguise. But when Barbara tells her father that she loves Kamal, he has no counterargument and promises his daughter he will be a little nicer from now on. He really does make an effort, trying to work toward a “ceasefire.” After Christmas is over and New Year’s Eve approaches, Gottfried wants to buy fireworks with Kamal. Gottfried, however, thinks they are going to buy explosives. Then, when he learns he is going to be a grandfather, he does not regard it as his daughter’s “virgin conception,” but as a failure of German pharmaceuticals. As proper etiquette requires, Kamal asks Gottfried for his daughter’s hand in marriage. But Gottfried has to digest this first and fears the downfall of Western civilization. Barbara, too, begins to have doubts, but her mother continues to encourage her to stand by the father of her child. Barbara promptly seeks out the priest as well, but he believes that a marriage between people of different religions is impossible. Over time, Gottfried realizes that his new, foreign son-in-law is more like him than he had thought. In some ways, history seems to be repeating itself: back when he married his wife and moved to Bavaria, he converted to Catholicism. But unlike Gottfried, Kamal stands by his faith and has no intention of converting. He has also developed a mobile app with his friend Yusuf, which he believes has a promising future and could make them financially independent. This causes an argument between Barbara and Kamal, and their relationship falls into crisis. When Kamal’s relatives arrive from Bethlehem as well, further disagreements arise. At first, the fathers seem to get along, but when Lisbeth insists that her daughter marry in the church here and Kamal’s father insists on an Islamic wedding, it leads to an intercultural disaster. Neither side is willing to back down, so Kamal leaves again with his family. Barbara is very unhappy about this, and now it is Gottfried who can make Kamal understand that you have to make sacrifices for love. He finds a solution: he suggests to Kamal’s father that they decide as Solomon did and not stand in the way of their children’s happiness. Since Gottfried holds a captain’s license that authorizes him to marry couples, he would use that authority to unite the young couple without religious coercion. Kamal’s father is persuaded and agrees. Secretly, however, Gottfried enlists the help of a registrar to ensure the legal formalities are taken care of, while he handles the form of the ceremony. He does this very convincingly, but his daughter has one very special surprise of her own: she gives her wedding vows to Kamal in his native language. Nine months later, Gottfried becomes the grandfather of twins. Relaxed, he realizes that you have all the time in the world once you stop worrying about your children. He and his Lisbeth go travelling together, leaving the children their house on Lake Ammersee.