The Edge of Heaven (Auf Der Anderen Seite) - Fatih Akin (2008)

Director: Fatih Akin

Rating: 10/10

Ever since I started working, I haven’t been able to watch as many films as I hope to. And from the few films I do end up watching, only a handful turn out to be satisfying and/or engaging. So, when I got my hands on Akin’s The Edge of Heaven, I had very high expectations from it. The reason - his previous film Head-On (Gegen Die Wand) [my review] was a thoroughly entertaining and intellectually engaging work. The Edge of Heaven is slower paced, equally edgier and ultimately a more satisfying work from Akin, which left me deeply moved by the end.

The film is divided into three sections. The first one tells the story of Ali, a Turkish immigrant living in Bremen, who asks a Turkish prostitute to move in with him. Yeter, the prostitute, who calls herself a woman of “easy virtues,” agrees to do so because of threats from two Turkish fundamentalists who view her profession as unbecoming of her culture. She however develops an affinity towards Ali’s son Nejat, who is a professor. The plot revolves around circumstances that lead to Yeter’s death and Nejat’s departure to Istanbul in search of her daughter Ayten.

The second story is of Ayten, who is part of an extremist group in Turkey, forced to flee her country to Bremen. There, she befriends Charlotte, a student at a university where Ayten takes refuge in. Charlotte and Ayten fall in love. The rest is a heart-wrenching story of the inevitability of their love. Charlotte dies in Istanbul after she comes in search of Ayten, who was deported from Bremen. The final story is the resolution of the first two, wherein the characters find catharsis through each other.

Like Head-On, The Edge of Heaven discusses the issue related with the co-existence of people from different cultures, having differing ideologies. Starting from immigrant woe, idealism and loneliness, the transformations that each of the characters go through are wrought so intricately that the result is a very poignant and realistic portrayal of loss and redemption. I was intrigued by the performance of the actors, especially that of Hanna Schygulla, who plays Charlotte’s disapproving mother Susanne, and Nurgül Yeşilçay, who plays the confused idealist Ayten.

Fatih Akin, takes a more challenging stylistic approach with this film. He does not force the three stories to fit, but lets them unfold with a steady pace. He doesn’t impose himself on the characters or the plot. The result is a film that is both thematically and stylistically complex. And a very moving and accomplished work from a promising young director.