Crossing the bridge

Gegen die Wand by Fatih Akin was a brilliant movie. One thing I liked about it was its lack of stereotypes; the viewer wasn't fed familiar patterns of the-oppressed-woman-as-a-victim even if it did deal with exactly those problems; expectations of what a person's life should be like, seeing her as a "woman" and a "Turkish woman". My impression was that Akin showed the fuck-finger to many stereotypes in film/reality and, at the same time, he managed to present a very multi-faceted story about the fucked-up lives of two human beings.

Tonight I watched another film of his, Crossing the bridge, a documentary about the music scene in Istambul. Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) is the Virgil of the film. At the beginning, I was slightly bored by a few of the rockers, who seemed to play boring music and who had very little interesting to say. (OK, the hip-hop artists and Baba Zula made very interesting performances) The rest of the film was pure magic. It showcased many types of music but the latter part of the film focused much more on the music itself than what was the case in the beginning of the film (which consisted of short clips combined with interviews). My point is not to say that "non-rock music" would present a more "genuine" picture of the Istambul music scene. The artist presented as a famous "diva" made a glorious appearence performing a haunting song, one of her hits from the 80's. All in all, the film make me want to check out new music.