"The Edge of Heaven:" What Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu could learn

     In the films of director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, particularly "Amores Perros" and "Babel," there is a recurring theme told through multiple storylines of how the lives of different people intersect, leading to coincidences that can dramatically alter these people's lives.  The problem with Inarritu's use of coincidence is not the amount of damage it causes to his characters, or how it leaves the audience acutely aware of the "freak accident" element of the events, but that there is no satisfying resolution to these events.  We are not left wondering how the characters can work through these tragic circumstances, but how they didn't have to happen in the first place, and what is the point of subjecting us to such depressing material.
     Fatih Akin's film, "The Edge of Heaven," provides a counter argument to Inarritu's method.  Like Inarritu's films, "The Edge of Heaven" has a multi-narrative plot involving characters in Germany and Turkey.  In one the main storylines, a young German woman named Lotte befriends a young Turkish woman named Ayten, a political activist who has just fled Turkey for Germany.  Lotte's mother, Susanne, does not approve of her daughter's friendship with Ayten, who she believes is too dangerous.  When Ayten is arrested and sent back to Istanbul, Lotte follows with the hope of freeing her.  After Lotte retrieves a handgun requested by Ayten, Lotte's bag, with the gun inside, is stolen by group of young boys.  When Lotte catches up with the boys as they are looking at the gun, she is shot and killed when one of the boys points the gun at her.
     Susanne travels to Istanbul to claim Lotte's body, and there is a scene where she in a room, crying hysterically over the loss of her child.  After reading Lotte's diary, Susanne realizes how much her daughter cared for Ayten.  When she visits Ayten in prison, Ayten is sobbing over her friends death, how Lotte would not have been in that situation if it wasn't for her.  Susanne then consoles Ayten, reassuring her it was not her fault.  Yes, it was a tragedy what happened to Lotte, but Susanne knows how much she loved Ayten, and it was Lotte's decision to be there.  Susanne doesn't blame Ayten for her daughter's death, and she won't let anger take the place of her grief.  Unlike Inarritu, Akin's characters accept tragic coincidences for what they are, focusing instead on how they can move forward with their lives.