Head-On [Gegen die Wand]
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Movie Reviews of Head-On [Gegen die Wand]
Movie Review: Love Is Stronger Than Death
Summary: 4 Stars
There's a key scene early in Fatih Akin's raw and beautiful "Head-On" in which a psychiatrist quotes a lyric by the English band "The The". The song he quotes from (the aptly titled "Lonely Planet") is a lesser-known track on the same album as one of that band's more familiar hits, "Love Is Stronger Than Death." And I can't help but feel that this latter song was an inspiration for this movie, as it's the central theme of the film. Amidst all the flashy cinematography and the edgy intensity, at its heart this movie is simply about the healing (and, yes, destructive, but most often life-affirming) power of love.
And that healing power is especially necessary in the lives of Cahit Tomruk (Birol Unel, in a gritty and real performance) and Sibel Guner (the radiantly exquisite Sibel Kekilli), who meet in a psych ward after attempting to kill themselves. Later in the above-mentioned scene, the psychiatrist tells Tomruk, "If you want to end your life, end it. But you don't have to die to do that. End your life here and go somewhere else. Do something useful."
It is this meeting that sets the stage for Tomruk's turnaround - a man who had given up all hope now opens up just enough to take a chance on some kind of future, a future that arrives in the form of Sibel's unexpected marriage proposal. And from there (and throughout the movie) there are many scenes that bring to visual and visceral life yet another lyric: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." i.e. these characters, who so recently had nothing, are newly emboldened in their actions because there's nowhere to go but up.
If it seems like I'm waxing overly-lyrically about this film, it might be due to the prominent role that music plays in it. The director inserts alternating, palate-cleansing riverside performances of Traditional Turkish music regularly (and entertainingly) into the narrative. And one of my favorite moments is when Cahit sits at a piano, idly playing a repetitive bass line - except the song he's playing is not so accidental: it's a song called "Life's What You Make It" (later reprised as a full-on version in the closing credits).
This kind of deft and clever use of music becomes an additional narrative unto itself, the music playing yet another character. And from punk to rock to pop to traditional (all in many languages), the filmmaker's use of music is always pitch-perfect for the scene and usually has the auxiliary effect of a Greek Chorus commenting on what's happening in the movie at that particular time.
Sometimes disturbing but ultimately affirming, "Head-On" manages to find beauty in some of humanity's darkest corners.
As for the extras on this DVD.. even the 29 minute "Making of Head-On" bonus feature (entitled "Report of an Intern") begins with a musical montage, set to a song that builds from Turkish folk to punk. The intern in question, Harry, has some very funny insights and revealing anecdotes about the actors and the making of the film (regarding Birol Unel, for example: "sometimes he scares me, but he takes his work very seriously"). Harry also recounts how Unel almost wasn't allowed into Turkey to finish shooting the film. There's also some great footage of the filming of the car crash scene and the riverside musical numbers with the Selim Sesler band.
The outtakes are kind of disjointed and not very amusing, but some of the deleted scenes are quite comedic and others are surprisingly poignant - all are worth watching (although one can see why they were deleted as they would generally detract or be incidental to the overall tone of the film).
Movie Review: Hard-Hitting ...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very hard-hitting movie. The story isn't great, but the execution is very powerful and the acting very impressive.
Cahit (Birol Ünel) is a disheveled (drug-sniffing) middle-aged Turkish-German, tethering on the fringes of sane behavior. Under the influence of drugs and gallons of alcohol he crashes his car into a wall and lands up into a hospital/psychiatric ward. Surprisingly, he gets away with a neck band and a limp. He runs into Sibel (Sibel Kekilli) who is struggling from identity crisis, marriage-hungry parents and family bonds. Sibel has an obsession to slash her wrists (mostly to prove her point and probably a way of stress-relief). Sibel kick starts the conversation by asking Cahit to marry her (because he is Turkish just like her). Cahit wards off her advances, but Sibel persists with her efforts and advances. However, her greater plan is to lead a carefree promiscuous life under the alibi of a marriage. She does manage to convince Cahit, who (unwillingly) has to shave his unkempt beard to visit Sibel's parents. After a bit of struggle, Cahit and Sibel manage to get married. However, this is an unconventional marriage and Sibel unleashes her hedonistic side filled with debauchery. Cahit, straightens up a little, but has spikes of aggressive and violent behavior. Sibel and Cahit continue to lead their own separate lives under the guise of their marriage.
However, slowly a bond starts to develop between the two and Cahit starts caring for Sibel. In a twist, Cahit runs into a slanger passing rude remarks about Sibel and he responds by rendering a fatal blow. Cahit gets a prison term and Sibel runs away to Istanbul to escape her seething parents. In Istanbul, Sibel has to do housekeeping chores to run a living and she starts getting pangs of identity crisis yet again. She responds by resorting to her promiscuous ways and indluging in drugs and alcohol. She runs into some street urchins who stab her over a minor squabble. She gets rescued by a taxi-driver. A couple of years pass and Cahit completes his prison term and rushes to Istanbul to seek Sibel (he now has a reason to lead a sane life). However, Sibel in the meantime has settled down with her resucuer and has a cute little daughter. Cahit manages to locate Sibel and both of them passionately want to start over with their relationship.
Cahit and Sibel plan to meet at a bus station and run away to start afresh. Sibel packs her bags, but cannot convince herself to leave her cute little daughter. Cahit expectantly waits for her in the bus, but Sibel doesn't come. The bus starts its pushback during the twilight hours and head out with Cahit alone. This climax scene is very poignant and has been executed beautifully (and in my opinion the best scene in the entire picture).
Movie Review: fine on every level
Summary: 4 Stars
"Head-On" is an intriguing film about two Turkish immigrants trying to forge a strange sort of life together in Hamburg, Germany. Cahit and Sibel meet in a mental hospital where they are both receiving treatment for failed suicide attempts. Sibel is so desperate to get out from under her oppressive, tradition-bound family that she pleads with Cahit - whom she barely knows and who is nearly twenty years her senior - to enter into a sham marriage with her. Reluctantly, he agrees, much to the consternation of her family who, while consenting to the marriage, make it clear to Sibel that she could do much better. After the two move in together, Cahit is at first happy to keep Sibel at arm's length while the girl sleeps around with various younger guys in the neighborhood. Gradually, however, Cahit's indifference turns to obsession as he realizes that he himself is falling in love with Sibel. From thereon in the relationship becomes ever more complicated until, finally, events spin so far out of control that the two wind up going along paths they never could have imagined when they started.
This German/Turkish co-production sets its tale of an impossible love against the backdrop of two clashing cultures. Though they are certainly both products of Eastern society, Cahit and Sibel have clearly adopted many of the ways of the democratized West. Cahit often scoffs at his Turkish upbringing and Sibel does just about everything she can to not be a model daughter and sister for her stultified family. The relationship between Cahit and Sibel is an amazingly complex and volatile one; on the one hand, they seem to be genuinely drawn to one another out of a sense of love and commitment, while, on the other, they are co-dependent in ways that wind up bringing harm to them both as individuals and as a couple. Yet, for all their problems together, we do sense that Sibel really does bring meaning to Cahit`s existence (as he claims), and that he may well serve the same function for her, as what starts out as a relationship of convenience turns into so much more. Writer/director Fatih Akin does not provide us with easy reference points for how to deal with these characters, and it is that very complexity and ambiguity that makes their story fascinating.
Birol Unel is excellent as Cahit, the man who has hit such a low place at the beginning of the film that anything is bound to look like up from there. But it is Sibel Kekilli, as Sibel, who really shines in the film. Stunningly beautiful throughout, she radiates an astonishing chemistry from the screen that catches our eye like a laser beam and never lets go. She alone is worth the price of admission.
Movie Review: Harsh, Gritty, Tough...Very Moving Film!
Summary: 4 Stars
'Gegen die Wand' in German, 'Duvara karsi' in Turkish, or 'HEAD-ON' in English is an explosive drama written and directed by Fatih Akin, a movie that may be tough to watch, but a movie that has enormous impact. While other films have successfully addressed the particular problems that the immigrant Turkish community in Germany face, few have come as close to examining all sides of the on-going issues of displacement and the effects of familial dispersal in the face of a new culture.
Cahit (Birol Ünel) is a thirty-something lost soul, drinking and snorting himself into oblivion over the loss of his beloved wife. He lives in a slum, spends all his time in sleazy bars getting beaten up for inappropriate behavior until one night he drunkenly drives into a wall (?suicidal?) and ends up in a hospital where he 'meets' Sibel (Sibel Kekilli), a young woman who has again attempted suicide as an escape from her strict family's prevention of her having a life. Hearing Cahit is Turkish, Sibel nonchalantly suggests they 'marry': Sibel's only way to escape her family would be to find a Turkish husband. Though grossly mismatched, the two agree to an 'open marriage', they satisfy Sibel's family, and move in together. Sibel cooks and cleans Cahit's hovel, and then goes out and sleeps around. This arrangement eventually causes problems for each of them and Sibel moves to Istanbul to escape the horrors of the life she has chosen. Once alone, Cahit is confronted with the reality that Sibel is the only path to salvation for his tragic life and the story proceeds - or rather speed drives - its way to a heartrending finish.
The characters in the film are generally unlikable sorts, especially Cahit, but each actor does so well allowing us to observe the dreary world that faces immigrants in a fractured society that we end up having an amazing amount of compassion for their character creations. Director Akin makes this two-hour plus drama speed by with such solid purpose that it seems a short film. There is considerable nudity and the sexual encounters may be a problem for some viewers, but Akin's cinematographer Rainer Klausmann makes everything work toward the ultimate message of the film. An interesting touch is Akin's choice of weaving a chamber music group of a female vocalist with Turkish instrumentalists as a chorus to comment on the action and keep us mindful that, though the film for the most part is set in Germany, this is a very Turkish story! Grady Harp, March 06
Movie Review: Love Gives and Takes Away ... and Takes Away Much: Intense Love Story
Summary: 4 Stars
`Head-On' is about a love story, but the love described here is a full-blown torrent of raw emotion. The words you listen to are those of punk rock songs, and the tensions are often frightening, especially in the first half. You may or may not like this film, but no one can deny its tremendous and genuine energy.
The story begins in Hamburg, Germany. Alcoholic Cahit meets Sibel in a hospital after his attempted suicide. Sibel, a German Turk, asks Cahit who is also from Turkey to marry her in order to get out of her home of her Muslin parents, and live more freely. In return, she will clean up his room and even pay the rent. Cahit declines at first, but reconsiders later, and accepts her offer, pretending that he is truly in love with her before her family.
It is a plausible story and the director says it is part based on his own experience. Whatever the origin of the story is, the emotional roller coaster of the ever-changing relations between Cahit and Sibel is unpredictable. Whether or not they fall in love with each other is not a big question because it is already suggested in semi-musical sequences that open up each chapter of the story. More gripping and absorbing part is how these two self-destructive persons deal with their own demon and face it. And in this film, their demon happens to be the love for each other.
The film's narrative is not a very refined one, and the outburst of characters' emotions is sometimes represented by graphic violence, which would make some viewers uncomfortable. As in French film `Betty Blue,' we are always aware of the tragic tone, and two leads Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli successfully generate the unnerving tension that keeps rising. In a sense they are not acting out the parts. They are the characters themselves.
Not many people would choose to watch `Head-On', and even if they do, some of them would heartily hate it. And perhaps we are not watching the complete version of the film which looks shorter than it should (if there is, somebody must release it). However, though story of passionate love is nothing new, it is seldom expressed with such power and intensity.