Fighter

Aicha is at high school in Copenhagen and fights kung fu with everything she has. Her family, who came from Turkey, expect good grades and then medical school, the way her brother Ali did it. Without telling them, Aicha starts training at a professional mixed club. A boy called Emil helps her prepare for the club championship and the two of them fall for each other. The rules of a life turn out to be far less clear than the rules of kung fu. Natasha Arthy's film is spoken in Danish, Turkish and German. Semra Turan's Aicha occupies a rare position in European cinema: the story of an immigrant girl built around her body and her will rather than around her victimhood. The fight choreography is genuinely good. It shows the pressure inside the family without turning anyone into a caricature.