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.