An Escape from Normality
Edgar Allan Poe once said, “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” Faith Atkin’s movie Head On takes an extensive look into a persons search for identity. Sibel, a young Turkish girl raised in a German society, questions her identity from the qualities, beliefs, and expressions based on the environment she resides. She is raised with the strict beliefs from her parents, but the world around her is much more lenient and tolerant. This type of societal behavior has a much less forgiving result. However, through the thick of her journey, Sibel demonstrates the rebirth of her character as she finds her identity and where she truly belongs. Sibel was a dreamer of escape
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Once disowned from her direct family she sought comfort with her cousin, Selma, who lives in Turkey. In Istanbul, the Turkish lifestyle was not as strict of a lifestyle as it was being a Turkish girl living in Germany. The country had modernized somewhat. Once she moved to Turkey, Sibel gets a job and tries to lead a normal life but her destructive ways get the better of her. We see her begin to start drinking and doing drugs again. Sibel and Selma fight when Selma confronts Sibel about her lifestyle. The fight ends up with Sibel leaving to live with a random guy she just met. She parties hard for a short while but hits rock bottom after being raped, being homeless and after being beaten to near death. Many years pass when we see Sibel again. Cahit has been released from prison and has come to find her. But now, Sibel has her life together. She has a daughter and a boyfriend. She has matured and we know that she has finally become content in life and has found her identity as a Turkish woman. By hitting rock bottom when she had been beaten and left for dead, Sibel had nowhere to go but up. Sibel’s rebirth and transformation is not seen in the movie while it’s taking place but we know it has