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Poster for Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

2005 · 1h 30m · Not Rated Documentary, Music
Directed by Fatih Akin

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Overview

German musician Alexander Hacke explores Istanbul's rich music culture and attempts to create a portrait of Turkey through music genres. On this journey, he encounters a mosaic that covers countless genres from rock to arabesque, electronic to hip-hop.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
89%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Crossing the Bridge does more than offer a wide variety of entertaining and intoxicating Turkish music. It also uses music to paint a portrait of a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and provide a window into a rich and varied national culture.

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Fresh

The music is gorgeous, and Akin's feverish camera shows an exile's love of the beautiful, crumbling but energized city as he pokes around its crevices, looking for recombinations of old and new, here and there.

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
Fresh

Even as Crossing the Bridge acknowledges differences, tensions, the provocative power music exerts on our hearts, it makes an elegant, head-bopping, hip-swaying argument that sound unifies.

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Fresh

It's a heady, occasionally free-floating mix, and a feast for music lovers.

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
Fresh

Akin's documentary gets its legs from the subtle questions it raises about Turkey's politics, nationalism, religious identity, cultural integrity and international perception.

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle

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