My class and I watched HEAD-ON, truly expecting some illumination of the Turkish subculture co-existence with the German community. Other than Germans mixing it up at clubs, little interaction remained. Indeed, after the promising opening, things started downhill at the hospital where the main characters met. This film was not upsetting in a heartfelt nor philosophical way, but was crude and tedious. Some students of many years left our cinema society never to return! I'm writing this because I felt absolutely duped by the positive reviews I encountered before putting this film on the semester syllabus. In terms of my teaching role, this was the most embarrassing selection I ever picked.

German screenwriter, producer and director F Akin's fourth feature film which he wrote and co-produced with producers Ralph Schwingel and Stefan Schubert, is the first part of a planned trilogy called "Love, death and the devil" which was succeeded by "The Edge of Heaven" (2007). It premiered In competition at the 54th Berlin International Film Festival in 2004, was shot on location in Istanbul, Turkey and Germany and is a Germany-Turkey co-production. It tells the story about Cahit Tomruk, a heartbroken and devastated man in his early forties who is slowly killing himself with alcohol and drugs, and Sibel Güner, a both suicidal and lively woman in her early twenties tormented by the guilt and shame that has been brought upon her by her family who sees her as a disgrace. After nearly driving himself to death, Cahit is sent to a psychiatric hospital in Hamburg, Germany where he meets Sibel who wants him to marry her so that she can get away from her family. Cahit is more bothered than interested in this young woman, but when he learns about her situation with her family he decides to help her out and marries her. Sibel moves in with Cahit and though leading separate lives, Sibel tries her utmost to gain Cahit's affection. Cahit acts unresponsive to everything Sibel does, but as time goes by Cahit has a change of heart that opens new doors for them.Distinctly and engagingly directed by European filmmaker F Akin, this finely tuned fictional tale which is narrated mostly from the two main characters' viewpoints, draws an involving, violent and painfully beautiful portrayal of an unconventional and dangerously passionate relationship between a German man of Turkish descent whom is doing his utmost to detach himself from his origins and a German woman of Turkish descent whom is striving to get away from her family and for her independence. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, fine cinematography by Swiss cinematographer Rainer Klausmann and production design by production designer Tamo Kunz, this character-driven and narrative-driven story about cultural clash, grief, interpersonal relations, identity and love, depicts two intertwining and internal studies of character and contains a great score by German composer Alexander Hache and American musician Maceo Parker.This valiant, heartfelt and afflicting drama from the early 2000s which is set in Turkey and Germany and where a marriage creates a life-altering human connection, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, efficient continuity, use of music which emphasizes its poignant atmosphere and the unflinching and expressive acting performances by German actor of Turkish descent Birol Ünel and German actress of Turkish descent Sibel Kekilli in her debut feature film role. An emotionally excruciating and compassionately narrated love-story which gained, among several other awards, the Golden Bear and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 54th Berlin Film Festival in 2004, the award for Best European Film and the People's Choice Award for Best European Director at the 17th European Film Awards in 2004 and the NSFC Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 40th National Society of Film Critics Awards in 2006.

Cahit Tomruk (Birol Unel) and Sibel Guner (Sibel Kekilli) are immigrant Germans who live and work in the port town of Hamburg. In a bid to help Sibel break free of her family (which strictly adheres to Turkish customs, religious and otherwise), the couple decides to marry. But straitlaced families are just part of the problem; Cahit and Sibel must also counterbalance ancestral roots with their new life in a western democracy.The film starts with a very surreal opening with a band performing a song about unrequited love on the beach in a foreign land. This band returns a couple times throughout the movie. Why? Perhaps to remind us of the foreign nature of Turkey, or simply to maintain the surrealism.This is a Turkish-German hybrid, with a forced marriage to boot. We might be familiar with American stories of people marrying to become citizens. But here, for Americans, we have a double foreign atmosphere -- Germany, with Turkish immigrants. A foreign culture for most of us, with an even more foreign culture mixed in. The story is a universal, timeless one, but in a whole new setting.Some social topics such as sexual intimacy and fidelity are brought up, that I think bear discussion. The wife insists on sexual promiscuity, but refuses to sleep with her husband. The husband, on the other hand, sees the marriage as real and does not pursue other women, though he receives no affection at home. Ironically, the person from the more strict culture has a permissive moral code, and the liberal partner is strict.I enjoyed seeing the game of Rummikub show up, but have nothing further to say about it. (Rummikub was invented by Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian-born Jew, who immigrated to Mandate Palestine in the early 1930s. Does this have anything to do with the story? Probably not.)Things get worse around the middle of the film, and this is where the original title ("Into the Wall") begins to make sense. I will not get into it for fear of ruining the plot, but this is when the film goes from good to great. I think the third act is somewhat weaker, but seeing the two adapt to married life (with their own unique versions) is a visual treat.

This film is a tragic Turkish love story set in Germany. Cahit and Sibel are two lonely souls trying to find an escape who incidentally meet at a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide.Cahit, having lost the love of his life is lost and thinking that he has nothing else to live for, he is constantly drinking and one night drives his car into a brick wall. Sibel is a young woman imprisoned by tradition and family. In her attempts to free herself from their prison, tries to take her own life.In a bid to remove her family's (especially her father and brother) stronghold over her, she coerces Cahit to marry her. The marriage is a convenience where they both see each other as roommates and pretend to be a couple when Sibel's family are around. However when they begin to know each other better, they start to fall in love, and that's when the trouble begins.The film begins with a band of Turkish folk singers singing what I can only assume is a love song. The band appears several times during the film and set the mood for the coming chapters.This film is a tragic love story that has so many twists and turns and does not have a Hollywood ending. However, the photography is superb and the storyline is very touching.