Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven is a morally and psychologically complex tale on human nature – the inherent fallibility in human character, and his futile attempts at reconciling with his life and love. Given that Akin is of Turkish origin, but was born and brought up in Germany, political and cultural diasporas of both the countries form the perfect setting for the rich, temporally fractured tale of three sets of unconnected parent-child pairs brought together through subtle interventions of ‘fate’ – a short-tempered hard-drinking Turkish immigrant and his quiet, educated professor-son; a prostitute living on the streets of Hamburg and her anarchist daughter who’s part of a radical political outfit in Turkey; and, a disapproving German lady and her rebellious daughter. Coincidence plays a strong role as the six fiercely independent yet lonely individuals (incidentally or accidentally) embark a tragic collision course through the vicious cycle of love, loss and their various repercussions. Continuing on the theme of death and bereavement, the emotionally charged movie is gritty like Head-On (though certainly not as much), with an elegiac tone that is deeply affecting. The acting, it ought to be mentioned, is very good without ever being flashy or spectacular.
Director: Fatih Akin
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Political Drama/Ensemble Film
Language: Turkish/German
Country: Turkey/Germany
8 comments:
Ah Yes. And a marvelous ending. No one felt like leaving the theatre even after the credits rolled on...
Yes, I'm completely with you on this. A fine movie indeed. Thanks for stopping by.
I loved the way the film showed the disparate cultures living in Turkey meeting and clashing...
http://negativeslens.blogspot.com/2009/06/edge-of-heaven.html
Thanks man for sharing your review of the movie. Yeah, clash of disparate cultures forms an important part of the movie.
Made my Top Ten list last year: we have very similiar tastes in film:) Great write-up once again.
The film veered towards melodrama but knew when to pull back from the brink, and the performances were powerful. I have this reviewed on my blog too.
Thanks a lot Alex for your kind words. I follow your blog very regularly, and to think that we have very similar tastes - that feels great indeed :)
I just read your review of the movie, and loved it.
Great capsule on this one, though I have to admit I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have hoped due to the credibility of all the coincidences. I know this is part of Akin's brand (as well as other German directors, namely Tom Tykwer), but for whatever reason logic was stretched too thin for me in this one. Still, I named Nurgül Yeşilçay as easily one of the most overlooked performances of last year.
Looking forward to Akin's next film, I believe due out this year.
Thanks a lot again, Daniel, for stopping by and sharing your views.
Reading your views I realise this might be the kind of movie that doesn't necessarily generate overwhelming praise from all its viewers. And that's good, I guess, cos that might start lively discussions.
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