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The Edge of Heaven

7.3

8,927

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Original title

Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven)

Year

2007

Running time

122 min.

Country

Germany

Director

Fatih Akin

Screenwriter

Fatih Akin

Cast

Music

Shantel

Cinematography

Rainer Klausmann

Producer

Co-production Germany-Turkey;

Genre

Drama | Ensemble Film

Synopsis

Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali's choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But he grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter's university studies. Yeter's sudden death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter's daughter Ayten. Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is already in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman, Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative mother Susanne. When Ayten is arrested and her asylum plea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Lotte travels to Turkey,where she gets caught up in the seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten.

Rankings Position

#34 Best German Movies of all time

Awards: 2007: Cannes Film Festival: Best Screenplay, Jury Prize Ecuménico

2007: European Film Awards: Best European Screenplay. 3 Nominations

2007: Cesar Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Film

2007: 4 German Film Awards: including Best Feature Film and Director

2008: Goya Awards: Nominated for Best European Movie

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Critics' reviews

"It's a beautiful, unexpectedly enrapturing story about a world in transition"

Carina Chocano: Los Angeles Times
"The Edge of Heaven is a film to be seen, savored and thoughtfully appreciated."

Andrew Sarris: The New York Observer
"With impeccable skill, Akin has made a film roiling with cruelty but guided by tough political optimism. No, we can't all get along, but some us of are trying"

Wesley Morris: Boston Globe
"It's a vivid ensemble experience, and the acting is wonderful"

Michael Phillips: Chicago Tribune
"By the end you know the characters in it so well that you can't believe you've seen the movie only once, yet on a second viewing it seems completely new."

A. O. Scott: The New York Times
"The director, who also wrote the script, achieves a keen-eyed view of the Turkish expatriates in this film while sustaining his remarkable ability to make them universal"

Ray Bennett: The Hollywood Reporter
"Like a more personal, less pretentious version of Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Babel," this spiraling dissection of circumstance, choice and fate is more about thoroughness of vision than tricky storytelling"

Joe Neumaier: New York Daily News

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Ranking Lists Position

30 My Favorite German Movies (40)
52 My Top 10 Movies from 2007 (81)

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The Edge of Heaven

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