Sweet dreams and gritty reality made of love
Escape. Sibel and Cahit meet after their suicide attempts from life, and then they get together to create a new universe from which they can escape. From what does their need arise? Escape from constraint of society, from life not valued, from despair and conflict leads them back to confront each of these issues.
The struggle to survive usually dominates our other needs - after this is met, however, we are left to emotional fulfillment. Needs and connections from the individual dominate the basic themes of Head On, and upon these themes lay more intricate subthemes. We see Sibel's need to escape from society and impositions - freedom and manifest destiny versus convention and fate. Cahit is an example of self-loathing and nihilism that arises in much of society...why, exactly? (Maybe he needs art to express himself in a form other than violence.) Instability is an umbrella theme, covering instability in thought, substance, and identity. Indeed, Sibel and Cahit must reconcile their multiple roles in society - daughter, student, worker, lover, citizen, immigrant, husband, wife. The dizzying junction of imposed identities motivates their actions throughout the movie. Through all of this, love: perhaps society and the individual can be at peace through this connection. This movie is a tragedy only because the main characters experience love a little too late in their lives.
Overall, the movie was very intense, and gave me some insight into one filmmaker's view of Turkish Germans. I appreciated the completely unpatronizing, real tone expressed throughout.
Russian Disco by Wladimir Kaminer had some very memorable lines, mirroring themes.
The Russians "treasure every new idea and every scrap of ancient wisdom as our national heritage" (24). Is this not a contradictory statement? Especially after seeing Head On and the natural conflict between new ideas and ancient wisdom, it is striking to see both put together into the facet of collective identity that is "national heritage".
"Nothing has been solved, but the exchange of views has left its mark" (67). I thought this was fascinating. It demonstrates the importance of debate and the media, as well as the importance of coming to terms with problems by discussing them instead of avoiding them (on both a personal and national level).
"Nothing is the real thing here, and everyone is at the same time himself and someone else" (89). This could be true for every individual. In this context, Kaminer discusses the mingling identities of Germans, and how the combination often leads to some combination of self-deception and external deception.
The humor of immigration is this: "He's had a perm. His approach to cultural integration"(77).
A last side note is the importance of language. We see the Russians on the train discussing guns and taking a brazen confidence in the confidentiality of their language. We also see the mix of Turkish and German in Head On. Each language confers an identity to dialogue, especially since Cahit has poor Turkish due to assimilation. Interestingly, some viewers of the movie have left online comments about the fact that they could not tell when the Head On characters spoke each language. Obviously, then, language is an important nuance.
P.S. Bravo to Fair Play! It was surreal!
The struggle to survive usually dominates our other needs - after this is met, however, we are left to emotional fulfillment. Needs and connections from the individual dominate the basic themes of Head On, and upon these themes lay more intricate subthemes. We see Sibel's need to escape from society and impositions - freedom and manifest destiny versus convention and fate. Cahit is an example of self-loathing and nihilism that arises in much of society...why, exactly? (Maybe he needs art to express himself in a form other than violence.) Instability is an umbrella theme, covering instability in thought, substance, and identity. Indeed, Sibel and Cahit must reconcile their multiple roles in society - daughter, student, worker, lover, citizen, immigrant, husband, wife. The dizzying junction of imposed identities motivates their actions throughout the movie. Through all of this, love: perhaps society and the individual can be at peace through this connection. This movie is a tragedy only because the main characters experience love a little too late in their lives.
Overall, the movie was very intense, and gave me some insight into one filmmaker's view of Turkish Germans. I appreciated the completely unpatronizing, real tone expressed throughout.
Russian Disco by Wladimir Kaminer had some very memorable lines, mirroring themes.
The Russians "treasure every new idea and every scrap of ancient wisdom as our national heritage" (24). Is this not a contradictory statement? Especially after seeing Head On and the natural conflict between new ideas and ancient wisdom, it is striking to see both put together into the facet of collective identity that is "national heritage".
"Nothing has been solved, but the exchange of views has left its mark" (67). I thought this was fascinating. It demonstrates the importance of debate and the media, as well as the importance of coming to terms with problems by discussing them instead of avoiding them (on both a personal and national level).
"Nothing is the real thing here, and everyone is at the same time himself and someone else" (89). This could be true for every individual. In this context, Kaminer discusses the mingling identities of Germans, and how the combination often leads to some combination of self-deception and external deception.
The humor of immigration is this: "He's had a perm. His approach to cultural integration"(77).
A last side note is the importance of language. We see the Russians on the train discussing guns and taking a brazen confidence in the confidentiality of their language. We also see the mix of Turkish and German in Head On. Each language confers an identity to dialogue, especially since Cahit has poor Turkish due to assimilation. Interestingly, some viewers of the movie have left online comments about the fact that they could not tell when the Head On characters spoke each language. Obviously, then, language is an important nuance.
P.S. Bravo to Fair Play! It was surreal!
posted by Pranoti Hiremath at
10:04 AM
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