Auf der anderen Seite

"Auf der anderen Seite" (The Edge of Heaven) was inspired by Guillermo Arriaga’s screenplay for Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu’s Babel (Mexico/USA/France), awarded Best Director at the 2006 Cannes festival. Once again, overlapping stories chart the destinies of six searching individuals, three Germans and three Turks, who don’t quite know where they belong although fated to live in two different cultures. A pair of tragic deaths force painful decisions. And although Fassbinder actress Hannah Schygulla makes a respectable cameo appearance as a distraught mother, it’s veteran Turkish actor and stage director Tuncel Kurtiz who steals the show as a sympathetic retiree who accidentally kills a prostitute he has fallen in love with. "The Edge of Heaven" – the German title reads "On the Other Side" – doesn’t stray far from the Arriaga theme of miscommunication among cultures that constantly rub shoulders with each other without comprehending much more than that. (Ron Holloway)