Love
The main theme of the film is love and affection. The film presents an unusual love story between a young Arab man and a much older German woman. Apart from the big age difference, their relationship is considered unusual because both live in a society that still has extremist point of views towards black people and foreigners in general. The film focuses on how the relationship between Ali and Emmi is influenced by the opinion of those around them and how they manage to cope with the negative reactions.
Prejudice
In the film, almost every character has some type of prejudice against Arabs. The only exception is the landlord’s son who proves to be open-minded and accepting of Emmi and Ali’s relationship. Arab people are regarded by the German people in the movie as being unclean, uncivilized, and dangerous and animals. Ali is affected by how the others view him and he begins to think that he is indeed an animal and that the others have the right to treat him badly. Ali is not the only one who suffers because of prejudice because Emmi is sunned by her friends, coworkers and even family because of her relationship with Ali. Thus, the film presents the harsh reality that existed in German after the Second World War, a country whose people were unable to give up their old beliefs and accept foreigners
Betrayal
Betrayal is another major theme in the film. Both Emmi and Ali are betrayed by various people throughout the film. For example, Emmi is betrayed by her own children who insult her and call her a whore when they find that Emmi married an Arab man. Then, Ali is betrayed by Emmi when she starts to behave like her friends and when her attitude towards Ali changes. Lastly, Ali betrays Emmi when he cheats on her with the bar owner. The relationships between the characters is strongly affected by this types of disloyalties but they manage to overcome them in the end.
