The Edge of Heaven (2007)

Forgiveness, redemption, repentance, and connection form interweaving themes of Faith Akin's complex and multi-layered film The Edge of Heaven. Titled On the Other Side in German, the film is primarily character-driven but is shaped by political, cultural, and family conflict that illuminate the struggle between first and second-generation Turks and Germans and their loneliness in exile. Akin builds his narrative on elaborate coincidences, yet his characters are drawn with such nuance that we willingly go where he takes us without questioning. Though The Edge of Heaven is a realistic drama, shifts in the timeline and dreamlike visions introduce surreal touches that serve to enhance its intensity.

Moving between Germany and Turkey, The Edge of Heaven is divided into three sections, two revealing a crucial plot point in its inter-title. In the first section, Nejat (Baki Davrak), a second-generation Turk, is a university professor in Hamburg, Germany. He is close to his father Ali (Tuncel Turkiz), a lonely widower who is a frequent visitor to the red-light districts of Hamburg. When he falls for Yeter (Nursel Kose), a Turkish prostitute, he asks her to move in with him and have sex whenever he wants. When Yeter is intimidated by two Turkish fundamentalists on the bus because of her profession, she decides to accept his offer. Nejat also takes a liking to her and comforts her when she cries over her estrangement from her 27-year-old daughter Ayten (Nurgul Yesilcay) whom she has lost contact with in Istanbul.

After a tragic accident in his home, Nejat travels to Istanbul to try and locate Ayten to help her in her education, purchasing a small bookstore while giving up his teaching job in Hamburg. What he doesn't know is that Ayten, a militant political activist, has fled Turkey and returned to Germany to find her mother and seek asylum. In Part Two, Ayten meets Lotte (Patrycia Zlolkowska), a German student without clear direction in her life. To the consternation of Lotte's more conservative mother Susanne, brilliantly performed by former Fassbinder star Hanna Schygulla, they move in together, forming a passionate sexual relationship. Letting down her guard when stopped by police for a routine traffic inspection, Ayten is arrested and sent back to Turkey after her request for asylum is denied on the grounds that since Turkey has applied for admission to the European Union it could not be a threat to her safety.

When Lotte soon follows her to Istanbul, another shocking incident is precipitated and the final chapter follows the characters as they deal with personal tragedy and seek reconciliation. In The Edge of Heaven, the 34-year-old Akin has vaulted into the elite group of international directors whose films have a universal appeal. It is not only that he is willing to confront serious issues but that his characters are three-dimensional human beings who we believe in and care about regardless of their politics. The Edge of Heaven will have you applauding not only for an emotional power reminiscent of Kieslowski, but for its message of forgiveness and empathy, offered without pandering or sentimentality.

Fmovies: 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.

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!

The Edge of Heaven fmovies. 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.

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!

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 intoxicatingly 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.