GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

theseventhstooge I first encountered Fatih Akin in college. I was taking a class on German Film on my way to a concentration in German. Akin is easily one of my favorite filmmakers and Gegen die Wand is a major reason why. The story in Gegen die Wand is engaging, serious, funny, dramatic, and everything else you would expect from such a great movie. Don't be fooled, Gegen die Wand is intense as well covering such subjects as honor killings, immigration, cultural assimilation, drug abuse, and murder. Sibel and Birol bring their characters of Sibel and Cahit to life. In a epic first film, Sibel Kekilli shows herself to be a force to be reckoned with. While Birol Unel shows why he is one of Germany's best actors. Meanwhile, Fatih Akin demonstrates his amazing filmmaking abilities in a film that is personal.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Gegen die Wand" is a German/Turkish 2-hour film from over 10 years ago. It was not the breakthrough movie for writer and director Faith Akin, but it is probably his most famous work so far, and his most successful. It won big at the German Film Awards, European Film Awards and several other awards bodies, even if it was not chosen to represent Germany in the Foreign Language Oscar race. That's not a problem though as I don't believe this is a movie the Academy would go for. It was a bit of a breakthrough film for lead actor Birol Ünel and a definite breakthrough for Sibel Kekilli, who you may have seen not too long ago in "Game of Thrones". Lets talk a bit about the characters they play. Ünel plays a Turkish man who has basically fully adapted to life in Germany, without culture or religion. Without his name, you could think he is actually German. He also does not look really Turkish. But he is. And that is crucial as Kekilli's character wants to marry him in order to find peace with his traditional family. However, in reality and spirit, she is very much alike to her fake husband. She wants to have fun, sleep around, party etc., just live the life.Both main characters have a talent for being self-destructive. The male has severe anger management issues that result in a moment which changes everything. The female has a drug problem, but is also too free-spirited for her own good, which may cost her everything on several occasions. Both lead actors play their parts very well and are the heart and soul of the film. The perception that Ünel is the only real lead becomes flawed when the actions starts focusing almost entirely on Kekilli's character two thirds into the movie. There are some very tense scenes in here and this may not be a good watch for younger audiences.I wrote earlier that this is probably Akin's most known film. He has worked on several films that combine German (locations) with foreign (for example Greek and Italian) culture. Here we get his take on his very own roots as you can easily see by his name. It is probably also his most serious film. Many of his works have a fair share of humour and comedy attached to them. "Gegen die Wand" does not and that is perfectly fine, even if it's not the best choice to represent Akin's generally lighter body of work. I think it would not have fit the tone at all. This is a really good dramatic character study and I also liked that he does not go for a forced happy ending by any means. It also fits the description of my review. The movie deals almost exclusively only with the time in the two protagonists' lives, during which they know each other and deal with one another. At the end, he is her way into her past, into a world, in which she may be free, but is it worth sacrificing her present for this new life? It's a question you will have to answer for yourself just like Sibel did. A pretty good film and I recommend the watch. Quite tense from start to finish.

piverba The title actually better translated as "Against the wall" and, seems to me, expresses feelings of the director Faith Akin regarding fate of his Turkish compatriots transplanted from Turkey to Germany, very much dissimilar countries divided by culture, traditions and way of life. Cahit (Birol Unel) deeply assimilated Turk in German society, who lost someone dear to him and on the self-destruction mission. Sibel (Sibel Kekilli) is a young Turkish girl, feeling trapped in the stifling confines of her traditional family, not being able to escape, trying to commit series of unsuccessful suicides. I hope you are getting the picture, and this is not a pretty one! Both of them are driven by basic instincts to which they give themselves fully. Loveless sex, drugs, bar scenes – the works. They are both "walled in" by their individual worlds from which there is no escape. Cahit is unpleasant, nasty, egoistic, dirty and ugly personality. Sibel is passionate, self indulgent, immediate-gratification type. Both of them do not exhibit any trace of intellectual life what-so-ever. They as well could be a pig and a cow. Food, sex, drugs – not the drive to improve themselves, use what god's given, learn to see beauty in the nature, develop and use your mind instead of systematically destroying it.Oh well, you will say, but they are in special circumstances. Human condition, you will say. What can you do? They are trying and trying but somehow can never quite kill themselves. Perhaps because their level of wretchedness can never exceed their hope for another round of sex, drugs, or any other such bodily pleasure. They hurt other people, who feel responsible for them, abuse them. And what about human condition of the rest of us, who are trying to bring meaning to our lives? Do we have rights? Do we deserve respect, even if we do not hurt others, working, trying to make life pleasant to others, do not ask and expect handouts? But they are mentally ill, you will say. Don't we have responsibility to care for sick? Are we to abandon them? Dump our daughters and friends when they are sick? Perhaps we can save them? Hopefully, the "Head On" will chip off a piece of the wall that isolates main characters and permit better their social integration into German-Turkish-Human society.Faith Akin produced credible and potent work of art which will endure. The film can (and should be) viewed more than once and deserves the acclaim it had gotten. It is nuanced and rich in promises of more and better things to come from this director.

buiger A good film, but nothing special, I expected much more having already seen Faith Akin's newest film "Auf Der Anderen Seite" which is excellent!Sometimes the movie looks and feels like a diluted Kusturica movie, it has at times also a feel that it was artificially constructed to please and that takes away from what could have been a much better film. The acting is generally very good, the story is interesting and the characterization also, but there is something missing, something that would bind it all together into a coherent whole. Like this, the film is merely a collection of good (and not so good) scenes that do not always seem to be connected to each other and do not always make very much sense, especially in the second half of the movie. Again, not bad, but certainly nothing to write home about.