Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Germany.1974
Dir: Rainer Werner Fassbinder 92 min German.
Starring Briggitte Mira, El Hedi Ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Itm Hermann, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Karl Scheudt

Tells the story of the friendship and marriage of a 60 year old widow who works as a building cleaner and Ali, a 40 year old Morrocon garage mechanic. Their relationship is viewed with angry disapproval and even hostility by the pair's friends and through this Fassbinder explores racism and prejudice in modern day Germany.

The film is powerful but very simple. It is based on a melodrama but Fassbinder leaves out the highs and lows and keeps only the quiet desperation in the middle. Ali:Fear Eats the Soul may sound like an improbable soap opera. It doesn't play that way. The reason it gathers such power is that Fassbinder experienced the fear first hand in his own life, knew exactly what was meant by the title and made a film so quickly, he only had time to tell the truth.

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