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DIRECTORS ABROAD Duvara Karsi / Gegen die Wand / Head-On 2004, 121 minutes Written and directed by Fatih
Akin Contact Information
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Charged with sex, drugs, and palpable chemistry between stars Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli, Duvara Karsi (Head-On), received international critical acclaim for its gritty portrayal of the relationship between two troubled Turks living in Hamburg. Sibel and Cahit meet in the unlikely setting of a mental institution, where they both end up after unsuccessful attempts at suicide. After her failed episode, Sibel decides that marriage to a Turk is the only thing that can save her from the prison of her devout, conservative family. Reluctantly, Cahit agrees to Sibel’s sudden proposal of marriage, perhaps not so much as to save her, as to do something meaningful in his own life. And while Sibel throws herself into Hamburg’s nightlife and limitless sexual opportunities, Cahit slowly falls in love with her. A sudden explosion of jealousy results in a violent death, and the couple is forcibly separated. While both Sibel and Cahit are deeply wounded and fragile, the plot twists that ensue take them on new journeys, to new terrain, and toward disparate futures. All the while, director Fatih Akin explores the slippery slope of identity and cultural pride, while eliciting utterly spellbinding performances from his two leading actors. Cutting from shots of the two drinking raki and savoring Turkish fare like dolma to the two dancing and screaming “punk is not dead” in Cahit’s wreck of an apartment, Akin captures the many dimensions of hyphenated nationalities, as well as the rage and euphoria of living dangerously. Critics are calling Duvara Karsi a realistic look at modern-day German-Turkish relationships and a serious glimpse into the daily confrontations between traditional Islamic values and Germany's second generation of Turkish descent, the children of the guest workers who came to help revive the German economy in the late 60s and early 70s. “’Head-On’ may offend those who endorse cultural
relativism, no matter how noxious its consequences, or forget that freedom
from religion is as essential as freedom of religion. Mr. Akin's commitment
to his characters is uncompromising, as is his humanity, which makes a
mockery of the kind of politically correct pieties that often plague stories
about cultural outsiders. Unlike, say, Ken Loach in his last film, the
nauseatingly smug 'A Fond Kiss’, Mr. Akin doesn't presume
to know how to tie up religious, cultural and sexual differences in a
neat package… Despite the tears, the blood and the booze, 'Head-On'
is a hopeful film, if for no other reason than Cahit and Sibel can't be
sized up or pinned down, their troubles filed under immigration and assimilation.
Their tribulations are at once specific and universal, by turns grimly
funny and darkly ironic. Set principally against the grubby environs of
working-class Hamburg, in dives and derelict apartments, the film has
a terrific sense of place. The city's grubbiness works a vivid contrast
to the visions of Turkey that flicker throughout the film. Istanbul looks
beautiful, but then so, too, does Cahit's wreck of an apartment, where
anarchy and the freedom it promises linger as stubbornly as the smell
of stale beer and cigarettes.” Festivals and Awards 2005 Göteborg Film Festival (Sweden) From Fatih Özgüven Head-On is a blast-against-the-wall as its original German title Gegen die Wand promises. The wall in question is the Turkish-German community in Berlin and the characters are its third generation members, young people searching for a way out of the traditional existence suffocating them; finding themselves up against a wall. For Sibel, a young Turkish girl who wants to escape the confines of traditional family values, the solution is a faked marriage with Cahit, an older, totally estranged Turkish man, a long time resident of Berlin, a bachelor, a bohemian and a perfect cynic. Nevertheless, blood being thicker than water, Fatih Akin’s film has its roots in the melodramas of the golden era of Turkish film (Yesilçam), and cynicism and deceit soon give way to hopeless passion. The girl leaves for ‘the City’, Istanbul, where lie her roots and where she intends to live out her unhappiness; all that blood, sweat and tears. Inevitably the man follows. Duvara Karsi is a Turkish melodrama updated with just the right touch of timeliness and with a lot of Turkish music and some Turkish cuisine thrown in, spices and all. Fatih Akin, whose earlier German films (especially Short Sharp Shock) were energetic, vibrant studies of the conditions of the Turkish diaspora in Germany, extends the pain and passion to his homeland and discovers that one may not after all be able to escape one’s roots, both literally and metaphorically.
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