Gegen die Wand

Gegen die Wand (Germany, March 2004)

literally translated : "against the wall". English title : Head - On

Director : Fatih Akin (based on a book written by himself)

Cast : Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck

this movie was actually intended to be an assignment for Contemporary German Culture (Budaya Jerman Kontemporer) subject.

some asked, why analyzing a movie? why about Turks in Germany?

well I can't provide you a perfect answer since I skipped the first class meeting and I didn't get any introduction to this thingy. so I'll just sum it up like this (if you allow me to explain my presumed baseless theory) :

Turks in have been considered as "second-class" people since quite a long time, especially on times after World War II. Germany was extremely doomed and they needed to rebuild their country asap. that was why they called the Turks and invited them to the country, to fulfill the country's desperate need of workers. that was the origin of the term Gastarbeiter ("guest worker"), another name Germans called the Turks with. until now on, there's still an obvious gap between them two. how to describe the gap, I don't know, I'm not a German anyway #alibi

well then, about the whole movie, I found this worth to watch. you'll got not only brief picture of turkish culture and philosophy, but also a story about life, how people ruin they life and find back its meaning after long hard fight, how people might throw away their origin because of bitter past, how things (even the best well-planned ones) are so uncertain they could be exactly the opposite of your primary expectation.

simpler described : you'll learn how wild is the world out there.

and fyi, one more reason why I recommended this movie : you won't find a cliché Hollywood ending here. you'll see.

Sibel Güner

around 20 yr old. young free-spirited lady raised in a strict family with strong turkish influence. she can't stand staying in her house anymore, and she only finds one way to fetch her freedom : marriage. she plans to marry any turkish man, get out of the house, and live la vida loca. love isn't involved, that should be some kind like mutual symbioses. but as always, time changes everything.

Cahit Tomruk

around 40. lives such a messed up life after her wife's death. earns money by collecting empty beer bottles at a club. he refuses any kind of turkish culture and tries to be denial of his real identity. his daily activity only revolves around cigarettes, cocaine, and beers.

both meet in a hospital. Cahit drove under alcohol influence and accidentally crashed a wall. Sibel tried to commit suicide by cutting her veins. Sibel begs him to marry her. she doesn't care if he's a stranger, as long as she could be totally free. she promised that they'll live justlike roommates. for some reasons Cahit agrees. but as I've said far above, things doesn't go as well as they've planned. heart takes over their logic and nothing else matters to them.

the rest of the story, you'd better watch it yourself. I avoid to be a spoiler here.

one other thing that should be remarked : the movie contains explicit sex scenes. very explicit that I prefer to skip some of them. so make sure you watch it with "the right people", if you got what I mean.

there's only one thing that bothers me. between every scenes, in each transitions, you'll see a group of turkish musicians singing turkish songs in front of a river (or lake? not really sure).

1) okay I understand that they just wanted to emphasize the turkish atmosphere, but everytime this group appeared I instantly thought : can you please just carry on to the next scene? zzzzz. booooring.

2) it sounds sooo much like dangdut in some ways. I don't know why, try listen to it yourself.

anyways, I'm done with my thought about the movie. hope you get a clear bright depiction. if you want to watch it and can't find the file on internet, you can ask me for the .avi version, completed with English subtitles :)