Edge of Heaven

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 05 21 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 712267280124

Studio: Strand Home Video

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:null

Summary: The winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, director Fatih Akin's deeply humanistic, multi-layered drama follows the stories of six people -- four Turks and two Germans -- as they realize the meaning of love while facing the harsh realities of the world we live in. Nejat is a second-generation Turkish immigrant living in Germany. His father Ali is a retired widower. When lonely Ali invites pretty prostitute Yeter to move in with him, Nejat makes no attempt to mask his disapproval. Nejat's opinion of Yeter begins to soften a bit, however, when he learns that she regularly sends tuition money to her daughter Ayten in Turkey. Suddenly, Yeter is dead, the unfortunate victim of Ali's violent temper. In the wake of Yeter's death, Nejat is determined to do the right thing for Ayten, and prepares to travel to Turkey to find the girl. But Ayten is a political activist who has recently fled from Turkey to Germany, where she befriended a German student named Lotte. Lotte's conservative mother Susanne isn't comfortable with her daughter's decision to invite a fugitive to live with their family, and when Ayten is arrested by German police and deported back to Turkey, the rebellious daughter rejects her mother and sets out in search of her friend. Later, in Istanbul, Nejat and Lotte are brought together by fate and Susanne is prompted to reexamine her values while searching for her daughter and being confronted with life on the other side. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Screenplay – Cannes Film Festival Ecumenical Jury Prize – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Film Presented – Vancouver International Film Festival Film Presented – London Film Festival Film Presented – Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Presented – Berlin International Film Festival Film Presented – Bangkok International Film Festival Film Presented – Santa Barbara International Film Festival Film Presented – Seattle International Film Festival Film Presented – Newport Beach International Film Festival Film Presented – San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival Best Foreign Language Film – National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress – National Society of Film Critics Best Foreign Language Film – Vancouver Film Critics

Features: The Making Of "The Edge of Heaven"
Original Theatrical Trailer
Other Strand Releasing Trailers

Edge of Heaven

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/14/2008

Runtime: 116 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,German

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Edge of Heaven
1. Yeter's Death [11:01]
2. Repent! [16:23]
3. Looking for Ayten [11:49]
4. Lotte's Death [3:43]
5. Untimely Intoxication [11:05]
6. Passion & Globalization [8:58]
7. Asylum [7:26]
8. Life Has a Purpose [8:25]
9. Hidden Gun [6:42]
10. The Edge of Heaven [6:06]
11. Salute to Death [2:38]
12. Credits [15:04]

Derek Armstrong

Hailed worldwide as one of the most accomplished releases of 2007 and/or 2008, depending on a particular country's release date, The Edge of Heaven is kind of a geographically compressed version of Babel. But writer-director Fatih Akin conveys his message more convincingly than Babel director Alejandro Gonz?lez I??rritu, taking a relatively simple series of intertwined stories and extracting a universal statement on how much people's differences should mean, how much they actually do mean, and the impact of random events on both. What makes The Edge of Heaven sing is that it doesn't get weighed down by Akin's political ambitions. By limiting the central characters to a half-dozen, Akin can spend enough time with each to transform them into real people, not just symbols of the points he's trying to make. This may lead his screenplay off on tangents that go beyond the core essentials of the plot, but these provide the dimension his characters need to connect with the audience. Without putting too fine a point on it, the localized political conflicts of Germans and Turks serve as effective stand-ins for the more prominent contemporary skirmishes Akin encompasses in his themes. What stands out are the unlikely bonds people forge by looking past the obvious defining labels, such as academic, prostitute, terrorist, and mother, and seeing the range of a person's potential. Or when they simply meet on an unspoken level that never introduces such labels in the first place. The Edge of Heaven contains the full spectrum of life's sudden detours, aching low points, destabilizing epiphanies, and open wounds that are utterly uncinematic in their lack of resolution. It closes with a man staring out at the sea, a single-image metaphor for all the emotional and intellectual searching contained within. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Klaus Maeck  Producer 
Fatih Akin  Director 
Fatih Akin  Producer 
Fatih Akin  Screenwriter 
Andreas Thiel  Producer 
Shantel  Composer (Music Score) 
Baki Davrak  Actor 
Tuncel Kurtiz  Actor 
Nursel Köse  Actor 
Nurgul Yesilcay  Actor 
Hanna Schygulla  Actor 
Patrycia Ziolkowska  Actor 

Country: Germany,Turkey