Soul Kitchen (2009)

Pleasant German comedy with a few laughs, likable characters, and a predictable plot. Not much else to say about it as a film but I do wonder about the multicultural aspects of its depiction of German society. Both this and director Fatih Akin's earlier In July (2000) depict a world of filled with diverse characters who are not fully alienated from society but are living just slightly on the margins of contemporary German society. In light of Angela Merkel's resent comments that multiculturalism has "utterly failed," what cultural position do these films occupy? How are they received in Germany? What is their audience and what is their commercial reception?