Auf der anderen Seite

Plot synopsis:
The film opens outside a gas station where the main character, Nejat Aksu, pulls up and gets outs. He goes into the store and grabs water, food, and gas before heading back on to the road.The film cuts to just a black screen with the words "YETER'S DEATH" written in the middle.The film opens back up with several exterior shots of German statues and buildings. Outside, there's a protest with one sign reading "PROLETARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!"
Outside, we see Ali Aksu, Nejat's father; he walks away from the protest and ultimately ends up in the Red Light District. Ali finds a girl he likes and asks for her name, she tells him it's Jessy. They negotiate a rate, and Ali enters Jessy's office. They exchange small talk and Ali finds out that Jessy's real name is Yeter, and that she's actually Turkish. Yeter doesn't like the small talk between the two, and instead, goes straight to work.As they exchange goodbyes, two men pass by and hear Yeter speaking to Ali in Turkish. They stop and stare at her. She closes her window and pulls over the drapes.The film cuts to a shot of Nejat on a train, then a shot of Nejat walking on the street. He gets to his an apartment and goes inside. Nejat walks in and greets Ali, his dad. Nejat gives Ali a book to read "Selim Ozdogan's Demircinin Kizi", while Ali is preparing dinner. After dinner, Nejat is seen reading a newspaper as Ali waters plants. Ali tells Nejat that an Iranian friend of his gave him an inside scoop on a horse race (he tells him to bet on "Sunshine of Life").At the horse race, we see "Sunshine of Life" win; Ali and Nejat celebrate the victory and collect the money won. With the extra cash, Ali takes Nejat to get some ice cream. While eating their ice cream, Ali asks Nejat if there's anybody he's "screwing". Nejat responds with, "A gentlemen doesn't answer such questions." He leaves and tells his dad to read the book that he brought him.Next, we see Nejat speaking to a small group of students in a classroom. One of the students is seen asleep during his entire lecture.The film cuts to sounds of Ali and Yeter having intercourse. Yeter demands that Ali hurry and finish. After they're done, Ali proposes that Yeter live with him and sleep with him only. And that he's willing to pay for her services, full time. He leaves his number and tells her to think about it.Yeter, in regular clothing, hops on to a bus. The same two men who we saw earlier (the ones who heard her speaking Turkish) follow her, and sit right next to her on the bus. They speak to her in Turkish, and she pretends to not understand; they tell her that they overheard her speaking Turkish (to Ali). They tell her that they know she's a Turk and a Muslim. After this, Yeter gives in and responds in Turkish. They tell her that she is on the wrong path and that she has to repent. She repents. They tell her that they don't wanna catch her working at the brothel, again. The bus stops and the two men leave.The film cuts to Ali smoking and drinking in a sports bar. Yeter meets him there. They discuss the finer points of Ali's proposal; he tells her that he is serious and they agree on $3,000 a month. Ali tells her that all he wants her for is sex, and he won't demand more than that. She tells him she is hungry, and to take her to dinner - he agrees, and they leave the bar.The film cuts to Nejat, Ali, and Yeter all having dinner together, in Ali's backyard. They discuss Ali and Nejat's family history; Nejat's mother passed away when he was 6 months old, and Ali remarried a widow with a daughter, but the marriage didn't work out and they are long gone now. Yeter tells them that she is a widow as well. Her husband was shot in Maras in 1978. Yeter also asks if Nejat is really a college professor, which he states that he is. When Yeter insists on grabbing the dessert, Nejat warns his dad not to drink too much. Ali tells him he's not, as he chugs down a glass of alcohol.Nejat is seen carrying his drunk dad to his bed. Ali warns Nejat not to sleep with Yeter, since she's his. Nejat walks out of the room as Ali drunkenly yells for Yeter.Nejat is seen back in the backyard having a speaking with Yeter. He asks how they met and she tells him that she is a hooker. Nejat is surprised and Yeter tells him "good night". Seconds later Yeter yells for Nejat. He rushes in to the house and screams for his dad.The film cuts to Nejat and Yeter waiting inside a hospital. They are met by a doctor who tells them that Ali had a serious heart attack, and that he is in critical condition. They will have to perform emergency surgery on his artery, and they will have to keep him for a while to study his condition. Nejat asks if they can see him, but the doctor tells him no and that they should come back tomorrow morning.Nejat and Yeter are seen on a bus. He asks her if she has any kids, she tells him that she has a daughter. He asks how old she is, Yeter tells him 27. He asks if her daughter knows what she does for a living, Yeter tells him that her daughter thinks she works in a shoe shop. And that she occasionally sends her shoes. Yeter also tells him that she wanted her daughter to be smart and educated, like him.The film cuts to Ali in his hospital bed, complaining about how horrible aging is; Yeter is next to him on his bed, and Nejat is standing across the hospital room listening to his dad. Ali reminds Nejat to water the tomatoes.The film cuts to Nejat and Yeter in Ali's backyard; Nejat is seen watering the tomatoes. Yeter tells him that the tomatoes are ripe for plucking. Nejat grabs one and tries it. He asks if she'd like one and she replies with a yes. Nejat gives her one and tells her they should take some to Ali. She begins to cry. He asks her what's wrong and she tells him that she misses her daughter. Yeter tells him that she hasn't heard from her in a very long time, and she has no clue where she went. Nejat comforts her.The film cuts to Nejat going to sleep on the couch. Then to Yeter going to sleep on her bed.Next, Yeter is seen cooking in the kitchen while Nejat and Ali are seen in the living room. Ali asks Nejat if he screwed Yeter; Nejat is seen in disbelief, he refuses to answer, and walks away. Yeter brings Ali some borek, but he refuses to eat it due to doctor's orders. Ali lights up a cigarette and Nejat yells at him. Ali tells Nejat that he has his life to live, and Nejats has his. Nejat grabs his things, kisses Yeter on the cheek and leaves - but before he can reach the door, Yeter grabs him some food and gives it to him for his journey.The film cuts to a shot of Nejat on a train; the conductor can be heard making an announcement over the loud speaker about arriving in Hamburg. Nejat is next seen in his house, in a study surrounded by books. He grabs the food that Yeter gave him earlier, and begins to eat it.The film cuts to Ali and Yeter in Ali's backyard; Ali is reading a newspaper and Yeter is painting her toenails. Ali asks her if she slept with his son, she accuses him of being drunk. He takes a sip from a beer and walks towards her. He begins to grab her breasts, and she moves away telling him not to touch her. Ali stays persistent and moves on to touching her inner legs. She tells him to stop. Ali tells her that he's already paid for her, and now he wants sex. Yeter claims that he doesn't own her, to which Ali responds that he does. He gets close to her face and tells her to give him a French job; at which point, Yeter decides to get up and leave to go inside the house. Ali follows her.Inside the house, Yeter is seen packing and Ali storms in telling her she's not going anywhere. She marches towards Ali and tells him that she can go wherever she wants and that she's seen plenty of people like him. As she pushes him, Ali responds and smacks Yeter in the face. Her head hits a cabinet and she falls down. She lays lifeless as Ali cries over her body.The film cuts to a shot of Ali being put in a jail cell. He looks around, and opens the window in the room; there are bars behind the windows. The film then cuts to a Turkish airport where a casket can be seen being taken out of an airplane, and transported into a truck. Nejat is at the airport watching the transfer occur.The film cuts to the burial of the casket. Nejat is watching on from the outside, with a group of mourners. Next, Nejat is seen in a living room with Ayten's (Yeter's daughter) family. They tell him that she has been gone for a few months and they have no idea where she went. The last they heard, she was studying, either economics, sociology, or medicine; they don't really know. Nejat asks for a picture of her but the family only has baby pictures. He comes across a picture of Yeter and asks if he can have that one. They respond by tell him that it is a picture of Ayten's mother, but that he can take it.Nejat and his cousin leave and as they're walking up a street, his cousin asks Nejat where he will stay. Nejat tells him that he will be staying in a hotel, his cousin insists that Nejat stay with him, but Nejat refuses, saying he likes his privacy. And that he will stay in Istanbul as long as it takes for him to find Ayten.The film cuts to Nejat at a cop station. He is looking for Ayten with the help of their search engine. The cop helping him takes him upstairs to an investigator. The investigator asks Nejat why he is looking for her; Nejat responds that he wants to fund her education. The investigator shows him files of tons of other children in their system, and asks if he would rather help educate them.The film cuts to a wall filled with flyers with Yeter's face on them. Nejat and his cousin are the ones putting them up. Nejat hopes that someone will see them and recognize Yeter on it. The flyers are scattered throughout random spots in the city. The cousins stop at a German book store, which has a FOR SALE sign in front. Nejat's cousin is not interested in German books and leaves for his workshop, he takes a few flyers with him. Nejat walks inside the bookstore. Nejat introduces himself to the owner, and asks why he's selling the bookstore. The owner tells him that he misses Germany, the language, the culture, and that ultimately, he's homesick. Nejat asks how much the store costs and the owner asks what he does for a living. Nejat tells him that he is a German professor and the owner points out that it would be fitting that a Turkish professor that teaches German ends up owning a German bookstore in Turkey. Nejat agrees.The film cuts to Nejat meeting with his cousin. His cousin asks if this means Nejat will be staying in Turkey longer, and about his job as a teacher. Nejat says that teaching may not be his calling. His cousin then asks about his father, and Nejat says that, "a murderer is not my father."Next, the film cuts to random roads that Nejat is traveling through. He goes long distances, several roads, time passes.The film cuts to a black screen with the words, "LOTTE'S DEATH" written in the middle.There are high angle shots from a helicopter of a PKK protest occurring. The film cuts closer into the protest, and a cop appears that scatters a crowd. The armed cop shoots 3 bullets in the air before being struck from behind by a citizen. His gun drops and the crowd of protesters jump on him. His gun slides to the feet of a masked protester, who picks it up and continues walking.The masked protester, Ayten, walks along a less crowded street, and is followed by an undercover cop, who walkie-talkies her whereabouts. He continues to pursue her as a swarm of cops follow behind him. In the middle of the chase, she drops her phone. The undercover cop picks it up and goes through her phonebook. Ayten goes into an apartment complex and runs to the rooftop; but the door to the top is locked. She hears the police coming. A resident of the complex opens her door and sees Ayten, and her situation; she unlocks the door to the rooftop for her. The undercover cop and a few uniformed cops go upstairs but the locked door keeps them from pursuing.Ayten hides the gun on the rooftop. After that, she is seen on a boat.The police raid a house filled with women who yell, "Long live the resistance!" As the girls are being pulled from their house to the police bus, they yell their names out to the streets. The cops leave and people in the street applaud; Ayten is in the crowd and walks away.We see Ayten at the Hamburg Airport, she uses a fake passport to smuggle into Germany. Two men meet her at the airport and take her to a refuge where other members of her political party stay. Ayten borrows money from one of the men from the airport.Ayten is next seen in a bar speaking on the telephone. She asks the operator for the whereabouts of Yeter. The operator tells her that she is not listed. Ayten looks through a phonebook, under the shoe section. She circles spots on a map of possible shoe locations, but to no avail.Back at the refuge, Ayten and the man who lent her money get into an argument over the 100 euros he let her borrow. The argument escalates and eventually she gets thrown out of the camp.Next, we see her outside a university. She sneaks into the library and sleeps. The film cuts to a shot of Ayten sleeping in Nejat's lecture. She is seen showering in the public restroom (through the sinks). She is then seen outside, on campus. She stops a student, Lotte, and asks if she has any money for food; Lotte agrees and they go into the cafeteria. The two have lunch and introduce each other. Through the conversation, Ayten reveals that she is not a student and homeless.Lotte takes Ayten to her house and introduces Ayten to her mother, Susanne. Lotte gives her clothes, and a room to stay in, against her mother's wishes.Ayten and Lotte are next seen in a nightclub, indulging in alcohol and smoking. Later, outside the nightclub, the two passionately embrace in a kiss. The two arrive back at their house in the morning; Susanne witnesses it from her room. The two begin to eat leftovers in the kitchen. They leave their mess and Susanne is seen cleaning up after them. Ayten and Lotte are seen in bed, naked and lying next to each other.Ayten walks in to the kitchen with Susanne already in there. Ayten says, "Good Morning," and Susanne tells her that, "it's noon." The two get into a heated political conversation, concerning the European union and Ayten's political stance. Susanne reminds Ayten that it is her house and she cannot speak to her in a disrespectful tone. Ayten waits outside the house as Lotte pulls up; she gets out and Ayten cries, asking Lotte to help her find her mother. Susanne is watching through a window. Ayten and Lotte get in her car and go searching. On the road, the car passes a bus, the camera moves up and reveals Nejat and Yeter are riding on it.The film cuts to night time, and a police car pull Lotte and Ayten over. The cops tell them that they're pulling them over for not wearing their seat belts. Ayten freaks out and decides to make a run for it. She is caught, captured and processed. Next, the two go to a hotel, where Lotte comforts Ayten.The film cuts to a court scene where a panel of judges deny Ayten's plea for asylum. Ayten is to be deported back to Turkey, where she will be immediately imprisoned and sentenced.At Lotte's house, she searches ferociously for her passport. She accuses her mother of hiding it from her and starts tearing her room apart looking for it. Susanne notices the passport on top of the desk and points out how blind Lotte is. Lotte leaves home and is next seen in Turkey.Lotte goes to an embassy looking to help Ayten; from there she is redirected to a lawyer. At the lawyer's, Lotte realizes the severity of Ayten's case - she faces a 10-15 year sentence. She asks the lawyer if she can visit Ayten in prison, but the lawyer tells her that it's nearly impossible if they're not related. Lotte is devastated and begins to cry; the lawyer tells her he might be able to get her a permit, but it'll take a month or two. He also tells her not to mention Ayten's name to anyone.The film cuts to Lotte on a phone with her mom. The two argue over what Lotte is doing with her life; her mother wants her to come home and continue her studies, Lotte feels that, for the first time, her life has a purpose: helping Ayten. Susanne asks her how she'll help her, in a foreign land where she knows no one, and has no money. Susanne begs her to come back home, but Lotte refuses. Her mother hangs up on her.The film cuts to the German bookstore, now with Nejat as the owner. Lotte walks in and asks Nejat if she can hang a flyer on his board, he agrees. She puts a card next to Nejat's flyer with Yeter on it. She goes back to Nejat and ask if he has any books on Turkey's legal system. He gives her an Amnesty International book. As Nejat is ready to close the bookstore, he is forced to kick Lotte out. She asks if she can borrow the book, and Nejat tells her it's not a library. He then notices her card on the board and tells her that he has a room for rent.As Nejat and Lotte walk to his apartment, he asks her about her curiosity with Turkey's legal system. She tells him that she has a girlfriend in prison and she has no idea why. Nejat ask what her name is, and Lotte makes up a fake name, protecting Ayten's identity (like her lawyer suggested).Inside the apartment, Nejat shows Lotte the available room for rent. She decides to move in.At the prison, we see Ayten playing volleyball. She is taken aside by one of her political group's leaders; the leader asks about the whereabouts of the gun Ayten found earlier, Ayten wants to know how she can trust her. The leader gets furious and threatens Ayten as she leaves.The film cuts to Lotte walking out of her apartment, then on a boat. She goes through a security check before finally meeting with Ayten in jail. The two hold hands during their meeting and Ayten slips Lotte a piece of paper. The info on the paper is a detailed map about where to find the gun.Lotte follows the directions and is next seen at the apartment complex where the gun was stashed. The door to the rooftop is locked; Lotte knocks on the door of the resident who unlocked the door for Ayten earlier on. It cuts to Lotte on the rooftop, finding the gun where Ayten hid it.Next, Lotte is seen walking down a street, where he purse is stolen by a group of children. The group splits up eventually, but she follows the kid carrying her purse. The kid hides in an alleyway and loses Lotte.The film cuts to three kids crowding around her purse. They discover the gun. Lotte walks by and recognizes the children and her purse. She gets closer and confronts the kids; one of them grabs the gun and points it her. He fires and Lotte dies. The children drop the gun and run away.The film cuts to Ayten in a police station. Two men talk to her in an office and ask who she saw yesterday. Ayten refuses to cooperate. The men tell her they could care less about her political affiliations, they're here due to an international crisis. They inform her that the person who visited her was shot and found dead 5 hours after their meeting. The news is a shock to Ayten, it leaves her speechless as the men ask her questions.Next, we see a coffin being transferred on to a plane, from a Turkish airport.The film cuts to a black screen, with the words "The Edge of Heaven" written in the middle.At the Turkish airport, we see Ali, after being deported from Germany, being accompanied by policemen. The camera moves up a little bit and we see Susanne there, as well.Susanne checks into a hotel room, drinks some liquor and falls asleep. In the middle of the night, she is seen crying, uncontrollably. Morning comes and she is seen on the phone leaving a voicemail on Nejat's answering machine. She stays fettled in one position as time lapses. She eventually gets up and walks into the lobby. There, she meets Nejat.Nejat asks if she'd like to get food, she responds by telling him that she'd like to see Lotte's room. The two share a cab and discuss Istanbul the last time Susanne visited, which was 10 years ago.Nejat shows her Lotte's room and Susanne asks to be left alone with her daughter's belongings. Susanne is seen reading Lotte's diary, discovering that her daughter understood her better than she thought. She slowly falls alseep and wakes up to a hallucination of Lotte standing over her, smiling.The film cuts to Ali at a park, reading Selim Ozdogan's "Demircinin Kizi" (the book Nejat gave him in the beginning). He puts the book down and is seen with watery eyes.At the bookstore, Nejat's cousin explains his father's whereabouts. The cousin leaves and asks if anyone has responded to his flyer with Yeter on it. Nejat shoves a pile of books on the floor, clearly frustrated. As he closes the bookstore, he grabs the flyer off the board and tears it down.Nejat walks to his apartment and finds Susanne waiting outside. She asks if she could stay with him for a while. in Lotte's old room. Nejat helps her in, and the two go out to lunch.At lunch, Nejat asks Susanne what they should toast, she tells him "death", and the two drink. She also tells him that she's in the mood to get drunk; he tells her he might join her. Susanne then asks if she could possibly move in with him and pay rent. He agrees.Susanne visits Ayten in prison, and Ayten begs her for forgiveness. Susanne tells her that she is there to help her, to finish Lotte's mission. She tells Ayten to stop blaming herself. Ayten is then taken back to her room.The film cuts to a morning scene, where Susanne is seen looking outside a window. Nejat walks next to her and she asks what all the people in the street are doing. He tells her that they're all going to the mosque to celebrate the first day of Bayram, the three day festival of sacrifice. Susanne asks him what the sacrifice is and Nejat tells her the Islamic story of God testing Ibrahim's faith. Susanne acknowledges that they share the same story. He tells her that he used to ask his dad if he would be willing to sacrifice him. Susanne asks what his dad would say, and Nejat tells her that his dad said he would make God his enemy, in order to protect him. She asks if his father is still alive, and Nejat nods yes. He then asks if she could look after his bookstore for him for a couple of days.The film cuts to a similar shot of what it opened up with; Nejat pulls up to a gas station and grabs food, water, and gas. He heads back on the road, he passes Filyos, and at night, he ends up in the city of Trabzon.At the prison, we see Ayten saying goodbye to fellow inmates. As she walks, her political group's leader stops her and asks if she has repented. Ayten says yes, and the leader spits in her face. Ayten walks away. She is next seen on a boat, and ends up at the bookstore. She meets with Susanne and the two discuss where she will stay. They embrace in a hug and leave the bookstore. The board with Nejat's flyer with Yeter, Ayten's mother, is no longer up.At a country side, Nejat pulls over and asks a villager if she knows where Ali is; she tells him that he has gone fishing. He gets to the sea and asks a fisherman if he knows where Ali is; the fisherman tells him that he is out at sea, but that he should be back soon, since the water is getting choppy. Nejat sits in front of the sea, and waits.The film's credits start rolling as Nejat sits waiting.

Tags: tragedy, realism, murder, atmospheric

Review:
F a t i h Akin's screenplay is elliptical--the story starts where it finishes--but by the end, when the opening scene is replayed, our journey with these characters puts us, indeed, on the edge of transcendence.Amid the desperation on display, small details brim over the images: a son waters his father's tomato plants pausing to taste the ripened fruit, a mother pits cherries that stain her fingers, another manicures her nails to avoid a quarrel, we imagine a bookstore's--specifically a German language bookstore in Istanbul--smell and the safety it can bring to a foreigner....
When a foreigner asks "What is Kurban Bayrami?" (a Turkish holiday) the many seemingly disparate elements that we've been watching--in good faith because they're so rivetingly told--suddenly come together, it almost knocked the breath out of me.Whether or not we as viewers have lost a father or mother or a child, through death, physical separation or emotional turmoil, we can understand what these characters suffer.
This story is repeated three times, in different context, for the three characters who remain alive to cross 'to the other side': the German mother who accepts her daughter's ideals, the German-Turkish son who forgives his father, the Kurdish girl who takes the love of her friends over her revolutionary commitment.
In his film The Edge of Heaven (2007), under original title Auf der anderen Seite (On the Other Side), Fatih Akin, a German writer-director of Turkish parentage, intertwines two stories, whose protagonists get caught in seemingly hopeless situations, both resulting in individual tragedies, stories with a cross section on the character of a young Turkish German professor, Nejat Aksu (Baki Davrak) whom we first meet living in Bremen and lecturing in the German literature university classes, who returns to Turkey, on a (futile?) quest for the lost daughter of his father's suddenly deceased girlfriend, and (unexpectedly?) stays there where he, quite appropriately to his vocation and interests, buys and maintains an Istanbul bookstore with exclusively German books (or books translated in to German) on offer, two stories which gradually approximate each other, but never actually "resolve" one in to another.
Still, the end is open, with the possibility for resolution, future cleansing what-so-ever, of the souls heavily burdened with guilt from the past.Film touches real life situations, ranging from usual family tensions and quarrels, through losses suffered due to physical separation or emotional disorder, all the way to ultimate loss, death of the dear one, and in doing so engages audiences on the first-person level, because nobody is spared from at least a single such experience, or two or more.
Split between two sides, Life and Death on the edge, but who's to tell which side is the Heaven and which one is the Hell?Heavy matters tackled, yet easy to relate to, feel for affected characters and empathize with them, in an emotionally charged and very engaging film..
This quest even brings her to the shores of Istanbul, a city where East meets West in the most literal way.In the end, 'Auf der anderen Seite' is a story of love and hope which is most endearing and sheds a refreshing light on the global trend of clashing cultures.
everything is sooooo beautifully rendered and executed that leave the viewer with nothing but endless admiration for anyone involved, particularly Faith Akin, whose story-telling and direction deserved a Palme D'or and a Best Foreign Language film Oscar.
Auf der anderen Seite (2007), written and directed by Faith Akin, was shown in the U.S. with the title "The Edge of Heaven." This is a powerful and moving drama that interweaves the stories of six people--a father and son, and two mother-daughter pairs.
By the end of the movie, for various reasons, each of the six has traveled from one country to the other.Faith Akin, himself a German of Turkish heritage, obviously understands and is comfortable in both worlds.
The best would be to take 'TEOH' as what it is and not as "Head-On the sequel".the movie tells us the story of a young Turkish professor who lives and most probably grew up in Germany, and now decides to set on a journey back to his hometown to find the daughter of his father's new girlfriend.
although there are no big names in the cast, as a whole it performed a great job, especially by Nurgul Yesilcay who portrayed the looked for daughter and Hanna Schygulla who portrayed the mother of this daughter's lover.for me, just as it was a great movie it could have been a great book, especially because of the ending that no matter how hard i tried just didn't let me get this movie out of my head.
Faith Akin's film is at once a gripping, unpredictable piece; a homodiegeticaly imbued joint venture between the Germans and the Turkish, arriving with a studious eye on what constitutes as involving filmmaking that goes on to cover a handful of people making, or having already made, great leaps two and from these respective nations.
Akin's multi-stranded piece is a taut, gleeful film observing an array of differing people of varying genders at separate points in their respective lives, all of whom come to interact and dislodge with one another's existences out of a common thematic of ill-induced power exchanges.We begin with that of Nejat (Davrak), a character of whom, at the initial point of first observation, is far and away down the winding strand he'll eventually come to end up on.
Illegally fleeing to Germany after storing a policeman's gun that she found in the street in an obscure hiding place, she comes under the tutorship of not only university student Charlotte, but also her mischievous ways of drinking; smoking and the frequenting of nightspots – items which have an ill influence on this empowered and activist-inspired-amidst-repression Turk.The film is bookended by this overhanging idea of power and control influencing for the bad, the conditions under which Ayten lived in Turkey coming across as regimental and false; the idea that Charlotte's mother Susanne (Schygulla), who is later granted a story of her own in the fallout of a tragedy, is too lenient and cannot implement the necessary authority to steer her daughter in the right direction, is additionally prominent.
Let's just say this: "Auf der anderen Seite" doesn't have the average Hollywood-solution, but it will leave you with a lot to think about when the credits quietly start running.This movie really impressed me, and I can't wait to finally see Akin's other works.
Especially excellent are the performances of Tuncel Kurtiz as Ali, the lusty old father; Nursel Koese as Yeter, the mother and prostitute; and Nurgul Yesilcay as Ayten, the daughter and political agitator.
I am now eager to see more movies filmed in Turkey."The Edge of Heaven" also asks something of the viewer, namely, to pay attention to the characters and time shifts, to be mindful of two distinctly different settings (Germany and Turkey), and to be open to conveyance beyond the bonds of family and tribal self-interest.I wish more American movies with big-name actors were this good.
The director Faith Akin, German of Turkish descent perfectly understands both worlds.He inhabits the souls of his characters and draws some of the most memorable performances from his cast of marvelous actors.
Considered one of the best films of last year, it won 19 awards, primarily for writer/direct Faith Akin's screenplay.It had some standout performances, especially from Tuncel Kurtiz as the drunken father Ali who manages to kill his live-in lover, Nursel Köse, in a drunken rage.
Hanna Schygulla, who has won many awards, also got one from the National Film Critics for this one.After her death, with his father in prison, the son Nejat (Baki Davrak) goes to Turkey to find the daughter Ayten (Nurgül Yesilçay).
It is rather unfortunate that in our troubled contemporary times not so many genuine films are being made which are capable of touching human hearts.One of the plausible reasons for this dearth of good cinema is that people have lost all faith and have become cynical.In these wretched times a well made humanist film is to be appreciated at all costs as it can act as a bridge between two communities,two countries.This is precisely the case of this film "Auf der Anderen Seite" directed by Faith Akin.To my mind,this is one of his most genuine,intimate,mature film.He challenges viewers by asking many pertinent questions about human existence.Some of these questions are :What is the meaning of life ?
Mysteries of human life and human relationships form the core of this film.Some members of German and Turkish communities show us that as life takes people to different places under different circumstances,death also does the same thing as life can also be lost in a jiffy.It is nice to note that India and Turkey,two Asian countries with numerous years of important ancient histories have been mentioned.This proves the point that both east and west are important for each other.Looking at this film,one can be sure that Faith Akin is trying to convey that life is so complex that it can have people standing next to each other but their paths might not cross.The strength of the film is its tight screenplay which has strongly portrayed all its characters.For many people "Auf der Anderen Seite" will appear as the first German film by a Turkish person which shows German people in a positive light..
A German filmmaker with Turkish extraction, Faith Akin's fifth feature, a Cannes' BEST SCREENPLAY winner, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN is a Bremen-Istanbul bilateral drama, unfolds in a triptych structure, delineates the vagaries of destiny and incidents impinged upon three parent- offspring pairs: a Turkish professor of German literature Nejat Aksu (Davrak) and his widowed pensioner father Ali (Kurtiz) living in Bremen, the latter, meets a middle-aged Turkish prostitute Yeter (Köse), and decides to pay her to live in with him as his exclusive possession, Yeter misses her daughter Ayten (Yesilçay) in Istanbul, whom she hasn't been in contact for years and later we will learn that she is now a young anti-government firebrand, the final pair is Lotte (Ziolkowska), a German college student who falls in love with Ayten and her mother Susanne (Schygulla), who doesn't quite approve of their lesbian romance and Ayten's radical political stance.
But, what renders wholesome of the film's slightly fortuity-heavy story is Akin's reflective and unflinchingly humane dissection of his dramatis personae, they are all the garden-variety type, each tries their best to get hold of their lives in the best possible way, and each is undermined by their foibles, but in its praise of love (Ayten and Lotte's intense love transcends their different mother tongues), family (Yeter's death separates Nejat and Ali, whereas Lotte's death unites Susanne with Ayten), understanding (Susanne's lofty gesture to the girl who obliquely causes the death of her daughter), and forgiveness (the childhood memory prompts Nejat to look for Ali in the end), that finale really vouches for the film's title, heaven is not afar in spite of there is turmoil prevalent on the surface, humanity can prevail.
This movie deals with love, hope and freedom in a unique and clever way - not in a shallow "deja-vu" way.Although there's many different characters, these pieces of the story create a single magnificent puzzle of emotions and stories- one could call it fate.
Political and sexual involution offers a great coast of a life of togetherness that is ongoing even with possible endings with tragic background throughout the movie.Just try to exist in some part of this edge of heaven presented with the film and contact to grief, reprieve, jolt, expectations and complexity..
This I experienced watching 'The edge of heaven', a Turkish/ German collaboration directed by Faith Akin.Nejat living with his widowed father in Germany is befuddled when he discovers that his father has bought a prostitute to live with him.
So, when, in this movie, two people realize they deeply love each other as they dance, while that old standard plays in the background, I intuitively felt that the meaning of the title now made sense for me.That scene comes in the second part, about half way through the story.
Quite simply, it's not too strong to say I was almost spellbound.Slow pacing allows the viewer to fully contemplate the development and interaction of an eclectic group of characters: the young Turkish professor in Germany, Nejat Aksu (Baki Devrat) obsessed with finding the daughter of his father's dead girlfriend; Ayten Ozturk, (Nurgul Yesilcay), a young Turkish woman equally determined to find her mother, somewhere in Germany; Lotte Straub (Patrycia Ziolkowska) possessed with the need to get her lover freed from prison; and a muted, but powerful performance from (an unrecognizable, for me) Hanna Schygulla who plays Susanne Straub, searching for her daughter, Lotte.Set against the often violent, anti-capitalist politics of the 1980s, the director interleaves the four threads of different but related stories in the overall plot - the unique sequence of events and perspectives.
Acutely and engagingly directed by filmmaker F Akin, this humane and compassionately narrated fictional tale which is set in Germany and Turkey during the early 21st century, draws an incisive portrayal of a young Turkish woman who is searching for her mother, the relationship between a German professor and his father and the relationship between a German student and her mother.
While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, the fine production design by art director Sirma Bradley and production designer Tamo Kunz, cinematography by Swiss cinematographer Rainer Klausmann and editing by English-born film editor Andrew Bird, this humorous, tragic and romantic story depicts several studies of character and examines themes like family relations, cultural clash, forgiveness, death and love.
Ali's son, Nejat travels to Turkey in order to locate Yeter's daughter to help her out financially because he feels responsible in some way for her mothers death.
The Edge of Heaven, its English title, a film by Faith Akin, explores the difficulty of human connection beset by geographical, political, but mostly human voids acting in random fashion which at the end, dramatize the advice of the philosopher, follow your bliss.
Nejat Aksu (Baki Davrak) is a professor of literature in a German university and not happy about his father Ali's new live-in partner Yeter (Nursel Köse), a prostitute who Ali (Tuncel Kurtiz) has hired to stay with him.
In Germany she meets a female student Charlotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska) who offers her a place to stay and eventually follows her back to Turkey, much to her mother Susanne's (Hanna Schygulla) chagrin.The two main story lines (those of Nejat / Yeter and Ayten / Charlotte) are presented after each other in a clear manner but the stories intertwine in many ways, often unnoticed by the characters, creating an extra feel of tragedy – the answer would be so close if only they knew each other!
Besides the smaller instances of bad luck, the deaths of major characters are what end up driving the plot forwards, but in the end the message is hopeful; an understanding is what everybody is ultimately seeking.Akin's calm direction and the good performances throughout easily raise The Edge of Heaven among the best Turkish films I've seen (even though I have only seen a handful).
For anyone who hasn't seen many Turkish films, The Edge of Heaven could be a good starting place, but I imagine it is also worth seeing for those more familiar with the country's cinema..
A very cleverly written and edited film that ties in the stories of different people, generations and nationalities, a lonely retired Turkish immigrant in Germany meets a prostitute from his home country which begins an interesting (to say the least) chain of events, I won't ruin it by giving away too much of the script but unintentional death plays a large part as does forgiveness, incredibly the characters don't realise how 'connected' they actually are throughout the film which is divided into three parts, the occasional 'flashback' moment adds rather than detracts from the pacing and the storyline holds your interest at all times, absolutely no filler moments or scenes in this one..
The Edge of Heaven (actual title Auf der anderen Seite, "On the Other Side"), Faith Akin's new movie, doesn't have a marvelous character in it like the feisty, moody Cahit, played by the feisty, moody Birol Ünel in Akin's stunning 2004 directing/writing effort, Head-On (Gegan die Wand), a compulsively watchable cross-cultural saga that won the grand prize at the Berlin Festival.
But the markers of the screenplay are the deaths of the prostitute and of the young German woman called Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska) whose mother is Hanna Schygulla.You can organize all that happens in your mind in various waysas a study in contrasts and parallelisms of generations; as an examination (like Head On) of conflicts between cultures and between inner moral law and external social pressures; as an ingenious depiction of that modern sense that everybody is connected, yet also doomed to isolation.
Yeter, is also connected with a daughter, Ayten, who she helps support, but the young woman, living in Turkey doesn't have a clue as to what her mother really does in Germany in order to send her money.
The movie, written and directed by Faith Akin, begins when an old Turkish man living in Germany accidental kills a prostitute he has paid to come and live with him.
But "Auf der anderen Seite" is far more ambitious than "Gegen die Wand" as it tells these themes through six different protagonists whose lives are intertwined: two mothers and two daughters and a father and a son.
gu was the one we wanted to watch but we could not arrive in time so we ended watching this Faith Akin film and for me was a worth watching film but I do not really liked it.Turkey and Germany, father and son, mother and daughter, mother and daughter.
Then we have the Turkish girl in Germany, in the place where PTA works, there she meet a German girl (great performance) so we have in our story the other mother and daughter, from Germany.