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71 out of 78 people found the following review useful: Complex and thought-provoking, 19 March 2008 Author: gospodinBezkrai from Plovdiv, Thrace, Bulgaria
"The Edge of Heaven", original title "On the other side", takes up a number of ideas from Faith Akin's previous film. But it takes them also in a new unexpected direction - with a political view (on Kurdish problem, on Europeans), with additional protagonist types - now the conflicted German Turks are joined by 'naive' Germans proper and 'seen-too-much' Turkish (Kurds) proper. All of the characters were very well constructed and, as representative types of their social groups, offered much material for the audience to reflect upon.Indeed, a knowledgeable audience would find this film to be replete with commentary on our social and political reality, the Anatolian and the European, and on the respective preconceptions and stereotypes. Some of the commentary is tragic, some is ironic. Here, in Bulgaria, the audience laughed and applauded when the German granma said with all her conviction to the Kurdish girl that everything in her country will become alright once they join the EU. On the other hand, an émigré Kurdish audience will probably applaud a very moving and full of suspense depiction of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey, which is however frank both to Kurds and to the Turkish authorities. It included small cameos from the conflict that are for the first time openly publicised: for example, the revolutionaries as they are taken out of their hideout to be arrested by the police, announce their names to the street and the world, in apprehension of being disappeared by the authorities; minutes later the crowd of passer-bys claps to the departing police vans in a popular approval of the suppression of kurdish struggle...Still, the myriad political and social themes are only a setting to a much more personal story. The opening of one's soul, the crossing of inner walls that separate us from those who love us. 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. However, the director allows no one of them to consume their redemption within the film's running time - their characters remain tragic.It is a very powerful film. As a friend said after the screening, it tramples over you like a steam-roller. The emotional mix of the previous film "Head-on" had me cry, but crying releases the pain. This one doesn't let to release the tension even at the final scene. It will stay with you for days after.
40 out of 44 people found the following review useful: Taking sides, 14 October 2007 Author: Fred Freddson from Germany
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
"Auf der anderen Seite" means "on the other side", or "on the other hand", and in Faith Akin's latest film we see two parallel narratives develop, overlap and intertwine until they very much become one.While some other viewers seem to have found the film's reliance on coincidence enervating, I found that it was a classical poetic device. As in all great art, the question is not whether the events are convincing, but whether the people stuck in these events are convincing, and in Akim's film they are. What can you say about a film with a cast as strong as this? Hanna Schygulla, especially, offers a stunning performance, but the rest of the ensemble is also very impressive. Finally the film is a meditation on what divides cultures and what divides the generations. A Turkish son finds it in his heart to forgive his father, a German mother decides to forgive and help her daughter's Turkish lover. In order to make it to the other side, beyond anger and towards understanding and forgiveness, you need to overcome yourself and be open to what the world can give even when it has taken so much away. Faith Akin knows how to tell this story in a way that is both heartbreaking and uplifting. A great film and an important film.
34 out of 43 people found the following review useful: Beautiful, great , would have deserved Palme d'or, 17 April 2008 Author: adipocea from Constanta, Romania
I don't really want to be polemic right now, because this movie invaded me with such a elevated state of spirit and emotions that I just want to say good things. But I cannot help myself and assert openly that this film was much more compelling, emotionally charging, smart, vast, wide and deep , than the winner at the Cannes Film Festival, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days. Faith Akin, whom first much lauded feature Gegen Die Wand I didn't like at all(i found it intoxicating loud, shaky and in a way polluted) has just hit the jackpot with this gem of a movie. Of course not the jackpot for money but for artistic value. Just go and see this movie, it's gonna be worth every second you spend in front of the screen. It will make you cry (and laugh sometimes), but it will elevate your state of mind and melt the tension within yourself.
28 out of 32 people found the following review useful: Once every few years, a film this touching comes along, 22 July 2008 Author: Michael Fargo from San Francisco
I usually comment on films right after I've seen them. However, "Auf der anderen Seite" (The Edge of Heaven), touched me in a way that few films do, so a month has passed. This story of two sets of mothers and daughters, a father and his son...and a gun seems familiar, but its resolution is anything but. To lay out the plot would be daunting. So much ground is covered, yet it unfolds effortlessly. 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.... These domestic details are set against much larger, although finally insignificant, struggles: the cultural divide of immigrants, students revolting against an oppressive government, how imprisonment can deaden the soul. But F a t i h Akin wants the basic struggles of family bonds to be central here. It's the resolution of family rifts--small and large, emotional and physical--that are urgent.The choice of settings, music, lighting... all carefully selected to build toward one moment that catches us off guard. 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. And how all that can be healed—the willingness to have faith that good intentions can mend this troubled world—is something like a miracle to find illustrated on film. The weapons these characters lay down to pursue goodness don't necessarily have the effect they intend, but as we watch lives torn apart and then healed we see what they don't. And we carry that lesson out of theater with us.
22 out of 24 people found the following review useful: People are more alike than they often realize, 3 March 2008 Author: mahoenders from Netherlands
Faith Akin, renowned for his energetic movie 'Gegen die Wand', brings another story about the Turkish-German community. The movie focuses on three families who are all connected in some way. In a beautiful way Akin shows the struggle of a Turkish prostitute, a professor of German literature, a young Turkish rebel, a student English and Spanish and a retired widower to find peace and happiness in their lives. Akin manages to avoid the many pitfalls which can lead to clichés. The characters remain just ordinary people with genuine emotions and problems. The movie also depicts the impact of globalization and multiculturalism in nowadays Germany and Turkey. It's the most debated topic of our time. To what extent do we want newcomers to adapt to their new surroundings and to what extent do we accept them to cherish their own cultural heritage. In an even broader perspective, it deals with the clash between the Islamic and western world. 'Auf der anderen Seite', which means on the other side, shows how Turkish immigrants come to love their new country, Germany, without losing their Turkish roots. I think Akin invites us to try and imagine the backgrounds of people, so there will be less misunderstanding. This view is symbolized by Lotte, a German student, who decides to help Ayten, a Turkish political activist who fled Turkey. She doesn't know the Turkish girl but just wants to help her, because the girl has nowhere to go. 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. Any one who is interested in these topics and just loves a very well made movie, ought see this German-Turkish production!
26 out of 32 people found the following review useful: A Masterpiece... Out of this world!, 23 May 2008 Author: peytoo from Canada
I had the unique chance of watching one of the best movies of my life - being a huge movie buff myself - today before the official screening of the movie in Toronto. The story of several people in Turkey and Germany and how fate and circumstances connect them and liberate them from their sins, mistakes and guilts. The performances, the phenomenal script, juxtaposition of scenes, direction, locations... 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. He won the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes 2007 though and deservedly so. The finale easily found its way among my most favorites...Another Strong Point: The character of father which is faultlessly written and performed!
22 out of 25 people found the following review useful: Where is the edge of heaven?, 11 May 2008 Author: Red-125 from Upstate New York
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. The father and son are from Turkey, but live in Germany. At the outset of the movie, one of the mother- daughter pairs is separated, with the mother in Germany and the daughter in Turkey. The other mother-daughter pair are Germans living in Germany. 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. Some of the characters in the film make the transition from one culture to the other seamlessly, but some suffer from extreme culture shock, and all of them are changed. The acting is uniformly excellent. I particularly admired Nurgül Yesilçay as a Turkish student and radical, and Patrycia Ziolkowska as the young German woman who befriends her. Fassbinder's muse, the incomparable Hanna Schygulla, has possibly the most difficult role of the six, and, as always, she is outstanding.We saw that film at the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival, but it will work well on a small screen. This is an extraordinary film, and it's definitely worth finding and viewing.
22 out of 26 people found the following review useful: "this my friend, this is cinema!", 12 May 2008 Author: Guy Anisimov from Austria
many of us who watched or are thinking about watching Faith Akin's latest film are most probably turning to it after being impressed by his more than amazing Head-On which i personally love! To avoid disappointment, besides the tag line which seems pretty similar these two movies are not very much alike. 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. as it turns out finding someone in a foreign country is not that easy, and as such there are many emotions and surprises involved.what especially stands out are the cinematography which presents a beautiful and colorful Turkey and the direction which is nothing less than superb! 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. in an interview i've seen of the newly internationally acclaimed and appreciated director he mentions Emir Kustorica and also confesses how after making Head-On he thought he knew one or two things about cinema and how now after making The Edge Of Heaven he knows that nor he nor many others have any idea what cinema really is. He ends by quoting Mr. Kustorica after watching TEOH saying "this my friend, this is cinema."highly recommended to anyone who...to everyone!
21 out of 27 people found the following review useful: Faith Akin, poet of the sadness and is becoming a master, 15 March 2008 Author: cabartha from Turkey
After seeing his film Duvara Karsi (Gegen die Wand), I made a personal decide : I must see all his films before I die. Now, I believe that my last experience with "Auf Der anderen Seite" proved that I'm right with my decision. What I like to see in his films is hearing and seeing the love from different angle. Sadness is a way to understand the value of the love and he is showing us that in his own style. Even I stay against some of the characters, in my personal opinion, he tries to tell us that when you match with life and being wanted, being needed, all other constitutions and formations are nothing! He also uses and mentions Turkiye's crossing to a new looking and new thinking. His bridge between two cultures is so strong and this story could not be filmed by any other director. Excellent work and a must see.
59 out of 105 people found the following review useful: This film received a houseful screening in Bangkok International Film Festival 2007, 25 July 2007 Author: ilovetoseethemovie from Thailand
I have just finished watching this film in Bangkok International Film Festival 2007. The film plays to a full house, no doubt with almost half those in attendance being enthusiastic at how it snagged best screenplay in Cannes Film Festival this year.Through slow-paced storyline from the beginning till the end, devastating impact on protagonists is absorbing and overwhelming as the film is explored. However, what I like about this film lays on forgiveness of the person who lives towards the one who dies, which might be a crux of this film, besides universal subject of racism stressed here. Some dark and bleak moments are also well-done. The leads do a commendable job, but most importantly, their chemistry undeniably believable.After leaving the theatre, the viewers might have some idea that self-intriguing plot plays more important role than budgeted films.
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