The Edge of Heaven

Fatih Akin, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his 2004 film Head-On, weaves a magical web with his tale of six crossed lives and destinies, where one man’s quest to set right a wrong is the beginning of a chain of events and consequences that is greater than them all.

Retired widower Ali (Tuncel Kurtiz), residing in Germany, sees a solution to loneliness when he meets prostitute Yeter (Nursel Köse). Ali proposes to the fellow Turkish native to live with him in exchange for a monthly stipend. Ali’s bookish son Nejat (Turkish star Baki Davrak) seems disapproving about his bully father’s choice. But the young German professor quickly grows fond of kind Yeter, especially upon discovering most of her hard-earned money is sent home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies.

The accidental death of Yeter distances father and son even more, emotionally and physically. Nejat travels to Istanbul to begin an organized search for Yeter’s daughter Ayten (Nurgül Yesilçay in a bold and compelling performance). He decides to stay in Turkey and trades places with the owner of a German bookstore who goes home to Germany. What Nejat doesn’t know is that 20-something political activist Ayten is in Germany, having fled the Turkish police.
Alone and penniless, Ayten is befriended by German student Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska), who is immediately seduced by the young Turkish woman’s charms and political situation. Lotte invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative mother Susanne. Ayten is arrested and confined for months while awaiting political asylum. When her plea is denied, Ayten is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Passionate Lotte decides to abandon everything to help Ayten.

In Turkey, Lotte gets caught up in the frustrating bureaucracy trying to free Ayten. A chance bookstore meeting will lead her to becoming Nejat’s roommate. A tragic event will bring Susanne (the legendary Hannah Schygulla in an award-winning performance) to Istanbul to help fulfill her daughter’s mission. Emotional moments spent with Susanne will inspire Nejat to seek out his estranged father, now residing on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

A moving tale of love and loss, The Edge Of Heaven won the Best Screenplay award at the 2007 Festival de Cannes.

Don’t forget to catch this movie @ PVR Juhu, Mumbai, 8:50 pm

Ever since the launch of the 24 hour NDTV Lumière channel, my fetish for quality movies just doesn’t seem to get over. I am eagerly waiting to watch “The Son’s Room”, a moving drama about a successful psychiatrist Giovanni’s struggle to hold his family together in the wake of a devastating tragedy that consumes his teenage kid, Andrea, in a scuba diving accident. The family retreats into their own private grief, as they struggle with the shock of the death.

It’s only when an unknown girlfriend from Andrea’s past visits the family, that the family finally unites in their grief, and move towards the future.

This heartbreaking family drama won the Palme d’Or at the 2001 Festival de Cannes, and a host of international awards.

It’s being telecast on Sunday the 19th, October at 10pm and on Monday the 20th, October at 7pm. All in all, a weekend that offers a delectable fare for movie lovers.