FATIH AKIN's FILM Gegen dieWand (2004, Against the Wall; Head On, 2004) follows theexistential crisis and eventual stabilization of twosecond-generation Turkish Germans living in Hamburg.The female protagonist, Sibel Guner (Sibel Kekilli),who is around twenty years old when the film begins,drives the action. Having survived an attemptedsuicide to escape the confines of her patriarchalfamily, she proposes a marriage of convenience withCahit Tomruk (Birol Unel), who is almost twentyyears older and also suicidal. After a period inwhich Sibel lives out her sexual fantasies with aseries of lovers, she gradually develops a deepaffection for Cahit. When a fatal, jealousy-inducedaltercation leaves him in prison, Sibel relocates toIstanbul, where she enters the world of substanceabuse. The ensuing downward spiral ends in a gloomybar where, during an alcohol- and drug-inducedblackout, she is raped by her dealer. The sequenceis not pornographic, but the camera does not sparethe audience. We see Sibel from the side, from aboutfour or five meters away, lying prostrate on thefloor. Her assailant clumsily removes her trousersand rearranges her torso to enable his violentassault. The camera remains mercilessly staticthroughout the action; only a few cuts reduce ourexposure to this agony. When he is done, theattacker coldly sends his victim into the Istanbulnight, where her tragedy continues. On a darkstreet, she passes a group of men who startcatcalling her. Sibel retaliates by insulting theirmanhood and physically assaulting the ringleader.Three times the men attack her, egged on by Sibel'sunabating invectives, until one of them pulls aknife and stabs her. Taken aback by his own actions,the man retreats and calls out, “Is that what youwanted? Is it?,” before the group flees the scene,apparently leaving its victim for dead. The sequenceconcludes with Sibel being discovered by theheadlights of a cab. The film resumes after fiveyears, when she reemerges on the screen as amiddleclass mother in a committed relationship.