Review by Sunny Oh.

Turkish-German director Fatih Akin’s narrative techniques in The Edge of Heaven won him the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival. The way he unfolds his story causes the audience to watch more actively. Certain images are repeated so that meaning can be added in layers. Crimes are announced in advance so that the audience can search in suspense for the victims.

The Edge of Heaven follows the lives of four Turks and two Germans. A pensioner seeks companionship with a prostitute. A political activist is caught on the run. A mother reclaims her dead daughter’s body. Love, death, and politics compel all six characters to travel between Germany and Turkey, regardless of their citizenship or ethnicity.

In a time when large-scale immigration often prompts xenophobia, The Edge of Heaven shows us the intricate relationships between citizenship and home, love and borders.

The Edge of Heaven
Fatih Akin | Germany/Turkey | 2007 | 122min

Sat. Oct. 6 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 9 | 1:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Wed. Oct. 10 | 10:00am | Empire Granville Theatre