Cycle index

The Edge of Heaven

Auf der anderen Spite

dir. Fatih Akin / Germany, Turkey, Italy 2007 / 122’

subtitles: Polish and English

Season 0_1_0, Antichrist, Cherry Blossoms – Hanami, Coco Before Chanel, Delta, Genova, Gomorrah, Happy-Go-Lucky, Her Name Is Sabine, Jesus Christ Saviour, Joe Strummer – The Future Is Unwritten, Let It Rain, Liverpool, Lorna’s Silence, Man on Wire, Nightwatching, Promise Me This, Quiet Chaos, Rumba, Strawberry Wine, Sweet Rush, Terribly Happy, The Edge of Heaven, The Class, The Country Teacher, The Karmazov Brothers, Tulpan, Waltz with Bashir Section index

Cast

Nurgül Yesilçay, Nursel Köse, Hanna Schygulla, Tuncel Kurtiz, Baki Davrak, Patrycia Ziolkowska

Film description

The Edge of Heavenis a bitter and poignant film. Fatih Akin confronts the well-fed, self-complacent Europe where people have nothing to wait for with the burning Turkey where nobody mentions the end of history or the termination of political disputes. Both parties are distrustful of each other and neither of them wants to listen. The only connection between them are the coffins of those who died in the foreign land and are now returning home - either to Turkey or to Germany.

In The Edge of Heaven the stories of six people intertwine. The characters differ in almost every aspect - a different descent, sex, opinions, and social status. But they have one thing in common - sooner or later the world will claim each of them. Akin joins the stories with a delicate thread, but the characters are on various orbits, which come close to each other seldom. No one capable of solving the situation can be seen.

Jakub Socha