- Also Known As:
- Edge of Heaven; On the Other Side
- Year:
- 2007
- Country/ies:
- Germany
- Italy
- Turkey
- Predominant Genre:
- Drama
- Author(s)/Director(s):
- Fatih Akın
- Best Performance(s):
- Tuncel KURTIZ
- Hanna SCHYGULLA
- Premiss:
- A Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father’s former girlfriend.
- Theme(s):
- Compassion
- Personal change
- Political Correctness
- Self-expression
- White culture
- White guilt
- White supremacy
- Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
- Unknown
- Review Format:
- DVD
A clever and emotional film that relies on far too many coincidences to be completely convincing. But the high quality of the acting makes it compelling - so much so that you almost buy it.
An exercise in identity politics and the search for same in the context of contemporary European culture, that never quite manages to get to the heart of this inescapably-ongoing problem. Composed of abstractions-made-flesh, the characters never quite come alive since the story is not solidly-based on actual lived experience, but on theoretical propositions.
Having said that, this movie requires a box of tissues - despite the fact that the intertitles tell you what is going to happen – and it is not pretty. This inherent lack of suspense makes this also an essay in tragic inevitability.
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