Central Arguments, Issues, and Themes in the Film The Edge of Heaven

Name
Course
Professor
Date
Film and Reading Response
Film: Auf der anderen Seite/Yasamin Kiyisinda/The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin, 2007, 116 minutes)
Reading: Bayrakdar, D. (2009). Turkish cinema and the new Europe: at the edge of heaven. Cinema and Politics: Turkish Cinema and the New Europe, 118-32.
The Edge of Heaven is a Turkish German drama film produced and released in 2007. It was written and directed by Fatih Akin. It stars Ali Aksu (Tuncel Kurtiz), a Turkish Immigrant living in Bremen, Germany, Ayten Öztürk (Nurgül Yeşilçay) as Yeter’s daughter who is a Turkish student and rebel, and Yeter Öztürk (Nursel Köse) as a Turkish immigrant to Germany. The film also stars Susanne Staub (Hanna Schygulla), Lotte's mother, Charlotte "Lotte" Staub (Patrycia Ziolkovska), as a German student, and Nejat Aksu (Baki Davrak) as Ali's son and a Turkish German university professor (The Edge of Heaven). The film revolves around the lives of these characters interacting with diverse cultural and political backgrounds. On the other hand, the reading "Turkish cinema and the new Europe at the edge of heaven" by Deniz Bayrakdar (2009) analyzes cinema from three perspectives: politics, aesthetics, and psychoanalytic. This essay analyzes the film and the reading, comparing their themes, social, cultural, political, and historical issues. It also describes the technical language the film uses to develop its plot.
The film's central argument is the political situation represented in Turkey. Most characters are immigrants living in Germany because of political intolerance in their country. Among characters in the film who have been affected by the political instability in turkey are Ali, an immigrant in Germany, Ayten, a student and political rebel in Turkey, and Yeter, an immigrant in Germany. This leads to political tension between Germany and Turkey. Germany allows immigrants from Turkey to work as laborers meaning it takes advantage of the political situation in the country.
On the other hand, the reading's central argument is the transition of cinematic production from multicultural filming to incorporating globalization and transnationalism. Most European cinema movements happened during an economic crisis, followed by wars and political changes, and were accompanied by flourishing intellectual creations in the end (Bayrakd...