Though translated as Head-On, Gegen die Wand actually means Into the Wall. Title that would be much more appropriate, as it sums up the whole story. Faith Akin was the master of all this, and understanding his life you can relate a lot of information with the movie, as he was born in Hamburg, son of a Turkish family. Anyway, Gegen die Wand starts with Cahit Tomruk (Birol Ünel), from forgotten Turkish descent. He lives a miserable life in a hole of an apartment in Hamburg. He even tries suiciding, crashing his car in a wall but he survives. While in therapy, he meets Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). At first, she challenges him to marry her, explaining that would let her get rid of her family and would not imply any sort of physical intercourse between them both. Obviously that doesn't happen, as in American romance, both fall in love with each other, but the beauty in this film is that it's much more complicated, taken to its extreme. The most interesting of this movie is observing the development of the characters, especially Cahit. Alltough both main characters come from therapy after attempting suicide, the main goal of the argument doesn't lie in warning for the beauty of life, its importance and how stupid it would be to end it, stuff like that. No. Breathtaking drama with two very good performances. Fine selection. 7/10
Review of Head-On
