German-Turkish film director Fatih Akin’s latest creation is Auf der Anderen Seite (literally On The Other Side), released in English under the title The Edge of Heaven with American DVD release set for 10/14/08. Set in three acts, two of which announce the death of a major character at the outset, it depicts the criss-crossing and border-crossing lives of Turks, Germans and Kurds.
A widowed Turkish pensioner in Germany brings home a prostitute originally from Turkey to be his live-in girlfriend meeting the disapproval of his assimilated son, who teaches German literature. Meanwhile, a Kurdish terrorist in Turkey seeks refuge in Germany. This being a movie, she is naturally young and beautiful.
Their lives intersect with explosive drama and consequences in this film imbued with sympathetic understanding of people, who are not cardboard cutouts.
There are many coincidences, some unbelievable.
One treat is seeing one of the great screen beauties of the German cinema of the Seventies and Eighties, Hanna Schygulla.
Just as I enjoyed Fatih Akin’s last film, Head-on, I enjoyed The Edge of Heaven and recommend it highly. It abounds with humanity.
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