The work of these filmmakers addresses many of the most prominent and controversial aspects of contemporary European immigration and multiculturalism, such as the large-scale migration of Albanians after the fall of Communism, the influx of Afghani and Kurdish political refugees, the continued persecution and marginalization of Romani (“Gypsy”) populations, the human trafficking of women in Europe’s sex industries, and the challenge (purportedly) posed by Muslim minorities to European secularism. The representation of minority and immigrant experience has been taken up by a wide cross-section of contemporary European filmmakers, including Gianni Amelio, Tony Gatlif, Constantine Giannaris, Michael Haneke, Yesim Ustaoglu and Michael Winterbottom. Finally, I introduce the concept of decentered multidirectionality as an appropriate constellation to capture the complex dynamics of circulation and mediation staged in Fatih Akın's ironic melodrama "Head-On" and the companion musc documentary "Crossing the Bridge." Narratives of migration as loss of home, dislocation and suffering are reframed in these films as a multi-sited, cosmopolitan consciousness that destabilizes the dichotomy between the native and the foreign.
I complement my analysis of "Gegen die Wand" with a look at Akın's "Crossing the Bridge," whose localized celebration of sonic hybridity emphatically transcends binaries of an enlightened, civilized West versus a premodern East. I also contend that the musical interludes audiovisually enact the experience of 'space-time compression,' which, according to cultural geographer David Harvey, is a central feature of our technologically mediated postmodern world. This article investigates the use of music in service of dramatic irony in Fatih Akın's 2004 film "Gegen die Wand (Head-On)." I argue that if we resist the assumption of social realism, "Head-On" can be read as a rehabilitation of melodramatic form and structure by reviving the stage tradition of interspersing the dramatic action with musical performances.
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