The Edge of Heaven: Turkish Film

I was drawn to this primarily because it was set in Turkey, made by a Turkish/German filmaker, Fatih Aker, and received good reviews, though the brief summary sounded a bit silly. However, as usual, I was quickly pulled into the film, by the aging Turkish man, Yeter, living in Germany, his professorial son, Nejat, and the other part of the story, the young idealist, Ayfen, who is involved in the fight against the oppressive Turkish authorities. Like Babel and other films that emphasize synchonocity, all the characters are connected in some way, though they never realize this, not even at the end. Yeter ends up accidently killing a Turkish whore, who he has invited to live with him in Germany. He goes to jail; his son, feeling a sense of guilt, travels to Turkey to find this women's daughter, to help finance her education. Of course, unknown to him, the daughter is Ayten. She ends up having to flee Istanbul, after a near capture by the police. She is smuggled into Germany, where she befriends a young girl at the university, who takes her in, and they eventually become lovers. Accidentally, they are stopped by the police; Ayten attempts to run, but is captured, tried, and sent back to Turkey, where she is imprisoned. Her German lover travels to Turkey, over the protests of her mother, and ends up staying with Nejat, though neither no that the other is interested in Ayten. The weakest part involves the German girl, after visiting Ayten in prison, goes to dispose of her gun, it's snatched(in her person) by some young boys. She gives chase; they end up finding the gun and when confronted by her, one of them accidentally shoots her. The aggrieved German mother comes to Istanbul to pick up her daughter, ironically ends up staying in Nejat's apartment; there she has an epiphany, takes up Ayten cause, gets her out of prison, and they end up together, at least temporarily, staying in Nejat's apartment. Meanwhile, Nejat's father is send back to Turkey, where he leaves for Trabzon. Nejat realizes his ill treatment of his father and drives to Trabzon to see him again. The film ends with him sitting on the beach, waiting for his father to return from fishing. We are left with an ambiguous ending...does the father return, what happens to the mother and Ayten, do they ever meet? It's the characters and the scenery, whether Germany, Istanbul, or Turkey that drew me into the film. Though politics motivated some, it's not at the core of the film. Mostly it's about people who overcome their anger or prejudice and 'just connect.' I liked this film much more than his more famous film Heads On.

Departures---Japanese film

Once again, I was drawn to a film made outside of Hollywood, this time, a touching film from Japan and if one were to read the brief summary, without the information that it was the Best Foreign Film in 2009, you would never have picked up the film. But I did, and though it was slow to begin with, I gradually was pulled into the film, the characters, the beauty and ritual of Buddhist or Japanese ways of dealing with the death of a loved on. The main character, Daigo, realizes early in the film that his desire to play the cello will never be fulfilled, in fact, it may not have really ever been his desire. He returns to his village with his new wife and falls into a job as a morticians apprentice, though the word 'mortician' in no way describes the role he plays in the film Here the mortician mostly deals with the preparing of the body for burial, usually as the family watches. he applies make up, slowly and lovingly washes the limbs, the hands, in fact, the body, wraps it in a gown, and in most ways, earns the respect and thanks of the bereaved family. At first, Daigo is put off by the role, as is his wife and friends. Slowly, he begins to see the need and fulfillment in helping those who are in mourning. Though he wife leaves him, she returns and has an epiphany when he buries his old friend's mother, a woman who runs a bath and knew him when he was young. His wife, watching his loving and caring way with this woman's body, understands finally the necessary role her husband plays in the lives of those around him. Mixed with this Micawber vocation, the movie is often comic, especially as Daigo learns about his profession. Ultimately, though, he entwines life and death, memory and time, as he is, at the end, reconciled with his father, someone who deserted the boy when he was six, yet as he finds out, never really forgot him. A wonderful film, a great song track, and moving performances by the entire cast. Great films are hard to define, even explain, and this one fits that ambiguity.

The Band's Visit

It's amazing how the briefest, even most improbable of plots can make a great movie, story, or book, The Band's Visit being an example A group of Egyptian musicians are stranded in Israel, with no place to go, nothing to do. The landscape of this part of Israel is bleak, almost apocalyptic with nothing to redeem the town except the unexpected hospitality of the people. This hospitality is best represented by the female lead, an attractive divorcee who happens to road what looks like to be a roadside restaurant. The band ends up at her doorstep, and after a few miss steps, she and the two loiters offer to the put up the band at there homes. Thus, begins an unlikely friendship between two lost tribes, one Israeli, the other Egyptian. There is little or not animosity nor prejudice towards each other, which might be the only unreal aspect of the film. The center is the somewhat formal, dour bandleader, a bit of a martinet yet touching. He and the only women in the film develop a relationship, mostly because she is so outgoing, which breaks down his formal, mannered way. Slowly, we and she get to know him, somewhat like peeling an orange. Nothing much happens though there is always the possibility of something sexual because of her uninhibited informal ways. Part of the humor results from her liberated manner which contrasts with the conductors discomfort with her openness, though he never seems critical, just uncomfortable. They walk, go to a restaurant, talk in a cement park, return home, and part. The other band members have similar experiences, ones that start out uncomfortable, but the barriers slowly fall as the couple with marital problems listen to the musician who has written part of a song. He plays it for them, breaking the ice. Little of consequence happens with the exceptions of small details, an Egyptian helping an Israeli to overcome his shyness, a musician touching a baby's hand, the conductor tolerating his youngest musicians ways. It ends with the band leaving the town the next morning, and we last see they performing, we assume in another Israeli town, as the mild mannered conductor ends up being the song leader of the Alexandrian Police Band. It's a charming movie, with wonderful performances, especially by the two leading characters.