Auf der anderen Seite (2007)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Fatih Akin

Writer:

Fatih Akin (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.

Plot Keywords:

Turkey | Istanbul | Germany | Death | Prostitute

Awards:

21 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Nurgül Yesilçay	...	Ayten Öztürk aka Gül
Baki Davrak	...	Nejat Aksu
Tuncel Kurtiz	...	Ali Aksu
Hanna Schygulla	...	Susanne Staub
Patrycia Ziolkowska	...	Charlotte 'Lotte' Staub
Nursel Köse	...	Yeter aka Jessy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ali Akdeniz	...	Plainclothes Policeman May 1
Aliye Alioglu	...	Old woman in Camburnu
Asuman Altinay	...	Türkan
Onder Cakar	...	Riza Bey
Erkan Can	...	Nejat's Cousin
Emre Cosar	...	Cengiz
Gengiz Daner	...	Gas station owner
Sevilay Demirci	...	Nurhan
Elcim Eroglu	...	Elcim
Gürsoy Gemec	...	Son of gas station owner
Cigdem Göymen	...	Selen
Nurten Güner	...	Nurten
Faik Hüzmeli	...	Waiter Londra
Ilhan Hüzmeli	...	Waiter Londra
Nadire Irtel	...	Woman in staircase
Nejat Isler	...	Commissioner
Jörg Jänicke	...	ASB
Ömer Kaar	...	Turkish street kid
Salih Kaar	...	Turkish street kid
Yusuf Kaba	...	Flute player
Sileyman Kaplan	...	Arif (as Süleyman 'Sly' Kaplan)
Gökhan Kirac	...	Young Police Officer
Güven Kiraç	...	Security guard
Feridun Koc	...	Security guard
Mert Koc	...	Turkish street kid
Öznur Kula	...	Prisoner
Sule Nayir	...	Prison guard
Stefanie Piehl	...	Policewomen traffic check
Yelda Reynaud	...	Emine
Lars Rudolph	...	Markus Obermüller
Turgay Tanülkü	...	Cem
Andreas Thiel	...	Konsulatsmitarbeiter
Gükce Isil Tuna	...	Prisoner
Annette Uhlen	...	Judge
Idil Üner	...	Doctor
Andreas Westphal	...	Policeman traffic check
Michael Wolf	...	Border Official

Also Known As:

The Edge of Heaven (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Ai confini del paradiso (Italy)
On the Other Side (International: English title) (literal title)
Yasamin kiyisinda (Turkey: Turkish title)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Germany | Turkey | Italy

Language:

German | Turkish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Germany:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Australia:M | UK:15 (re-rating on appeal) | UK:18 (original rating) | France:Unrated | Sweden:15 | Ireland:15A (re-rating on appeal) | Ireland:16 (original rating) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Finland:K-11 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | South Korea:15 | Japan:PG-12

Filming Locations:

Bremen, Germany

Company:

Anka Film

Trivia:

Baki Davrak was cast very late into proceedings and subsequently missed Akin's standard three-week rehearsal period. To bring him up to speed, Akin took him on a trip to Turkey.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the film, the year is 2006 and it is the Festival of Sacrifices (Kurban Bayrami), a religious holiday. Everybody is in summer clothes and many of them are sweating. The Festival of Sacrifices in 2006 in Turkey was in winter, at the end of December.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fatih Akin - Tagebuch eines Filmreisenden (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Sahara Blues

Where is the edge of heaven?

Auf der anderen Seite (2007), written and directed by Faith Akin, was shown in the U.S. with the title "The Edge of Heaven." This is a powerful and moving drama that interweaves the stories of six people--a father and son, and two mother-daughter pairs. The father and son are from Turkey, but live in Germany. At the outset of the movie, one of the mother- daughter pairs is separated, with the mother in Germany and the daughter in Turkey. The other mother-daughter pair are Germans living in Germany. By the end of the movie, for various reasons, each of the six has traveled from one country to the other.

Faith Akin, himself a German of Turkish heritage, obviously understands and is comfortable in both worlds. Some of the characters in the film make the transition from one culture to the other seamlessly, but some suffer from extreme culture shock, and all of them are changed.

The acting is uniformly excellent. I particularly admired Nurgül Yesilçay as a Turkish student and radical, and Patrycia Ziolkowska as the young German woman who befriends her. Fassbinder's muse, the incomparable Hanna Schygulla, has possibly the most difficult role of the six, and, as always, she is outstanding.

We saw that film at the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival, but it will work well on a small screen. This is an extraordinary film, and it's definitely worth finding and viewing.