Martin Reads the Quran

For a year now, Martin Harirat (Zejhun Demirov), a family man with Iranian roots, has been studying the Koran intensively. When he visits the renowned Islamic scholar Professor Neuweiser (Ulrich Tukur), it emerges that Martin's young daughter was killed in a terrorist attack—perpetrated by one of Neuweiser's students. In fact, Martin has already taken action himself. He has planted a bomb somewhere in Berlin. He wants to find out from Neuweiser whether his actions are religiously justified. An intense, intimate debate develops between the two men about faith, morality, and the interpretation of sacred texts. With time running out, everything is at stake: Can the professor convince Martin not to detonate the bomb? Despite its suspenseful plot, Jurijs Saules' thriller drama manages to portray the interpretation of religious texts in all their ambivalence and complexity. The radical narrative concept unfolds into a debate about an interpretation of sacred texts that is open to both sides: peaceful or uncompromising. At the center is the question of whether it is permissible to kill in the name of Islam. “Martin Reads the Koran” is an uncompromising film that goes where it hurts. The fact that it still insists on the importance of dialogue, even with a radicalized person, makes it as painfully human as it is controversial. For their screenplay, which raises questions about the possibilities of reconciliation in the face of extreme hatred and the causes of radicalization, Michail Lurje and Jurij Saule were awarded the 2022 Lola for the best unfilmed screenplay to date. [...] In ‘Martin Reads the Koran,’ genre and discourse merge into a film that provokes productive polarization." (Jens Balkenborg, on: epd-film.de)