The Edge of Heaven (2008)

With The Edge of Heaven, the marvelously talented Fatih Akin, a German filmmaker of Turkish origin, continues to explore questions posed in Head On. Delving into the complicated co-existence of Turks and Germans in an ever-changing Europe, the new film, which won Best Screenplay at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, casts a wider net, crisscrossing back and forth between nations and focusing on a larger pool of characters.

The story begins with Ali (Tuncil Kurtiz), an old Turkish man in Hamburg who solicits the services of Jeter, a prostitute (Nursel Kose), also Turkish. With a connection made between these two initial characters, a complicated, interwoven story begins to take shape in ways unexpected. We meet Ali's son Nejat (Baki Davrak), a professor of German literature who disapproves of his father's boorish ways; the son gets to know Jeter, who supports her daughter's education back in Turkey; unbeknownst to Jeter, her daughter Ayten (Nurgül Yesilçay) has become a leftist radical, on the run from the law; Ayten meets Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska), an earnest German graduate student who falls in love with her; finally, the film turns its focus onto a seemingly supporting character, Lotte's conservative mother (Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla).

The stories come full circle in The Edge of Heaven, with chance connections made, but just as importantly (and maddeningly), opportunities lost. Only the audience is all-knowing; we become emotionally drawn into Akin's intricate web, hoping that the articulate and appealing Nejat, who returns to Turkey to discover Ayten, will find her -- though, of course, we know (as he doesn't) that Ayten is gone, having witnessed her return to Germany to find her mother.

The experience of watching The Edge of Heaven is further complicated by the literary titles given to each section of Akin's tightly structured film. Consider Jeter's Death: you know what's coming, but not how, or when, or why. The ensemble cast's compelling performances make the film's emotional impact all the more powerful. Akin doesn't provide the ending the stories steadily lead up to, but while the film ends, our hope is not yet extinguished.

Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Tuncel Kurtiz, Baki Davrak, Patrycia Ziolkowska, Nursel Kose
Directed by: Fatih Akin
Running Time: 2 hrs. 2 min.
Release Date: May 21st, 2008 (limited)
MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Distributors: Strand Releasing, Artificial Eye Film Company, Ltd.