Product Details

• Actors: Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck, Meltem Cumbul, Stefan Gebelhoff
• Directors: Fatih Akin
• Writers: Fatih Akin
• Producers: Fatih Akin, Ali Akdeniz, Andreas Schreitmüller, Andreas Thiel, Jeanette Würl
• Format: Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 2.0), Turkish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Strand Releasing
• DVD Release Date: September 13, 2005
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009VND0E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,389 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Head-On [Gegen die Wand]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Head-On, Fatih Akin's gritty drama, is like a great punk-rock song-- rough around the edges, but filled with heart. Cahit (Birol Ünel) is a middle-aged drunk whose apartment looks like the toilet in Trainspotting. Sibel (Sibel Kekilli) is a suicidal woman half his age, stuck at home with repressive relatives. They're two troubled Turks, adrift in Germany. A chance encounter at a psychiatric hospital represents a way out. If Cahit will marry her, Sibel can flee her family. They'll accept him, because he's Turkish. As for Cahit, he won't be alone anymore, left to mourn his dead wife and drink his life away. At first, things go as planned. Sibel moves into Cahit's dump and spiffs it up. The two live, eat, and party together, while continuing to see other people. Gradually, their marriage of convenience starts to resemble the real thing--until Cahit's violent tendencies get the best of him. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Studio: Strand Releasing Release Date: 04/06/2006

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite possible THE best movie of the year, September 15, 2005

By 

R. G. Hall "Placebo Fanatic" (Stow, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Head-On [Gegen die Wand] (DVD)

I first saw Head On at a small International film festival shortly after it's theatrical release, and fell in love with it almost immediately! This is by far the best move if the year, and a strong contender for my top 5 movies of all time. It's wide ranging appeal, from the intellectual international crowd who will drool over the interpersonal relationships of the Turkish-German main characters and the cultural aspects of two young, and slightly twisted people dealing with their overly traditional families, to a younger crowd who can appreciate this movie as simply a rocking kick-in-the-pants punk love story, I'm convinced that nearly everyone who sees this movie will love it!! 5 Stars, would give it more if I could! And let's not forget a shout out to Sybel Kekilli, who is one of the most beautiful women on the planet!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitting the wall . . ., April 24, 2006

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Head-On [Gegen die Wand] (DVD)

For viewers of Hollywood films about marriages of convenience that turn into romantic comedies, this is not another one of those. Which is not to say that the kind of romance that develops between the two central characters doesn't have far reaching effects - living happily together ever after not being among them. Each in his way is redeemed by love, and the viewer is taken along on a long, long journey with many turns, often difficult to absorb. If anything, the film represents the painful conflict at the heart of many Turks living as expatriates in Europe.

The "head-on" car crash that brings the two protagonists together is also about a whiplash collision of cultures that are not only separated by a great distance but also by centuries. It is not surprising that in these circumstances both characters are driven to extremes of behavior. That Cahit and Sibel survive the ordeals they have gone through is partly the result of what they begin to feel for each other, but also important is a return to Turkey where each finds some measure of personal integrity.

The performances in this film are breathtaking. Birol ?nel as Cahit is a Turkish Klaus Kinski with the mercurial "good looks" of Mick Jagger. He is a stormy presence on the screen (and apparently on the set as well) and delivers a disturbing portrayal of self-destructiveness. Sibel Kekilli's peformance is equally astonishing. The DVD has no director's commentary (which would have been interesting), but it includes a number of deleted scenes and out-takes, and an informative and entertaining "making of" featurette by an intern who worked on the film.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Harsh, Gritty, Tough...Very Moving Film!, March 21, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Head-On [Gegen die Wand] (DVD)

'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