Rheingold: Fatih Akin’s biopic and gangster drama about rapper Xatar
Film plot and background
From hell to the top of the music charts. The path of rapper Xatar (Emilio Sakraya), real name Giwar Hajabi, is adventurous to say the least. Born a Kurd in the Iranian province of Kordestän, he spent several months in prison with his parents in Iraq as a child. In the mid-1980s, the family found a new home in Bonn as asylum seekers, and hospitality was not a given in the new neighbourhood.
Although opportunities for the future opened up, the obstacles seemed to put the way to the top out of reach. As a petty criminal, he rises to become a big-time dealer and has to justify himself to the Mexican cartels for a lost shipment. To pay off the debt, Giwar plans to rob a gold truck. Later he will grace the front pages of the national dailies – and in prison produce his album “Baba aller Babas”, which will propel him to the top of the German charts.
“Rheingold” – background, cast, cinema release
In 2015, the rapper Xatar published his eventful life story as a book entitled “Alles oder Nix: Bei uns sagt man, die Welt gehört dir” (All or Nothing: We Say the World Belongs to You). The subject of the book is the gold heist in which he stole 1.7 million euros. The crime put him behind bars for three years. Before that, he founded the label “Alles oder nix” in 2008, but his debut album of the same name was indexed. After his imprisonment, his third album “Baba aller Babas” went to number one in the German music charts.
With Fatih Akin (“Gegen die Wand”), a renowned director was hired for Xatar’s biopic. The film “Rheingold” traces Xatar’s life from birth to his arrival in Germany and the attack on the gold transporter and is based on Xatar’s autobiography. The leading role is played by Emilio Sakraya (“Tribes of Europa”). The rest of the cast of “Rheingold” is graced by names such as Mona Pirzad (“Käthe and I”), Sogol Faghani (“Ruby”), Kardo Razzazi (“Suedi”), Uğur Yücel (“Fatma”) and Denis Moschitto (“Out of Nowhere”).
The filming took the team from Germany, Holland and Morocco to Mexico. The theatrical release of “Rheingold” is 27 October 2022.
