2024-02-03 10:18:29
Maybe we should start this text with a little instruction. Because this is how we make a contribution to public health. It’s also very easy. And given the mild weather outside, it’s not dangerous for the respiratory system at the moment.
In any case, much less dangerous than keeping the windows closed before and probably even during Kida Khodr Ramadan’s new series. It’s called “Testo” And if there’s one thing you really can’t accuse this seven-parter of, it’s that it’s a product disappointment. “Testo” releases such a rush of musky breath into the living room that without oxygen you would probably suffocate.
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With Kida Ramadan in Kreuzberg
It’s just a series by Kida Khodr Ramadan, he had the idea, wrote the book, directed it with Olivia Peltzer and delivers exactly the product that has been expected of him since he retired after the testosterone-sweating seasons of “4 Blocks” became self-employed as a producer: male- and migrant-centered moralities, genre television that was rare in Germany before him and before “4 Blocks” – hard, ironic, edited as quickly as produced, authentic, completely artful and free of any artificiality.
And almost astonishingly successful. “Asbestos”, Ramadan’s last dirty story about a young Neukölln footballer who innocently goes to prison and somehow has to make his way through it in the truest sense of the word, last year hit exactly the target group from which ARD would like to live in the future (and have to). Ten million hits in the media library were recorded. A second season is in preparation.
The names in “Testo” by Kida Khodr Ramada say a lot
In “Asbestos” someone goes to prison. “Testo” begins with five gangsters coming out of the prison in Moabit. They are called Keko, Pepsi, Stulle, Barro and Kongo. They are – it appears – “genius & madness” (Keko), “unpredictable pit bull” (Barro) and “bipolar & good gangster” (Stulle).
You can see them dressing up, shaving their heads (Barro), straightening their suits (Pepsi) and twirling their eighties mullets (Stulle). Then, like gangsters who have seen too many gangster movies, heard too much gangsta rap and think they have too big balls, they walk out with a stomping step and squeeze their muscular crosses into a small car.
And a few pretty quick cuts later, we’re standing in front of a bank where money messengers are carrying what feels like millions. Masks on (brand: Fantomas for poor people), creaking at the ready, in, shouting. The disaster begins.
Pepsi (Stipe Erceg), Keko (Kida Khodr Ramadan), Barro (Veysel Gelin) und Stulle (Frederick Lau)
Those: ARD Degeto/Marco Fischer
“We fuck,” is Keko’s short philosophy of bank robbery, “or we get fucked.” It’s clear what his gang decides to do. They have nothing to lose.
“Escalation” is the name of one consequence of this unheard of rollercoaster ride. The entire series could be called “Escalation”. But that wouldn’t sound like the street enough.
Perhaps we should add a note at this point. Namely, what you should definitely not expect. Psychology for example. Kida Khodr Ramadan doesn’t stop at giving his characters more than surface.
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His fatal quintet is a combo of cardboard comrades who are crushed over the course of the two-hour running time, but do not gain any real depth beyond their characterization from the beginning – the unpredictable pit bull remains a pit bull and unpredictable and the others feel the same way.
There is also no dramaturgical sophistication. Each of the seven episodes, which are around 15 minutes long and are perfect for the TikTok generation, has a similar structure, rushes off driven by German rap, hits the twelve in the middle and gets stuck on some cliff.
But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Because you don’t see the thing that “Testo” hits you in the face with coming. At some point Keko – it’s “Family Time” – is playing football with her son in front of the bench, the pit bull gets smacked by mom as if she had just caught him stealing five euros from her handbag, a hostage with cancer turns out to be a prospective hostage Body available.
ARD definitely has balls
There was a book shredded from the best of some gangster films from “Scarface” to “Dog Days”. But that was as open as a barn door to madness. It was improvised and varied. The fact that “Testo” sounds as rough and as crazy as it is is a result of this.
And from the friction of those old friends that Ramadan brought into the cast, who knew each other and their respective paths and had a great desire to hit the bullseye: the pit bull rapper Veysel, the uninhibitedly bipolar Berliner Frederick Lau, Ronald Zehrfeld plays the shady cop, Nicolette Krebitz plays the upright chipmunk, Katharina Thalbach is in the uniform of the police chief.
Note: Only Kida can do what Kida can do. ARD definitely has balls. German television can do the dirty little genre. Now quickly close the windows again.
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