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| A very 1970s-colored original poster for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, cut through with the English title |
Emmi is an aging widow and cleaning woman, who is looking for company. In an Arabian café, she meets the younger Moroccan man Ali, whom she marries soon after. But their life together is tough, once her prejudiced children, neighbors and colleagues find out about their marriage.
German master writer-director Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Whity (1971)) reportedly shot Ali: Fear Eats the Soul in just two weeks; - an incredible feat, especially since its performances and cinematography are so spot-on.
German cinematographer Jürgen Jürges (Funny Games (1997) etc.) does, together with Fassbinder, an outstanding job in giving the film several beautiful, lingering images.
The original, German title is intentionally using incorrect grammar, echoing Ali's difficulties with the language and culture in the movie. - It means 'anxiety eat the soul up'. Brigitte Mira (Fabian (1980)) does a marvelous job of portraying the small societal rebellion and longing for tenderness and human contact, which Emmi finds in the attractive foreigner.
If you are interested in gossip and life imitating art (sort of) trivia, the tragic love story of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul doesn't compare to the tragedy of Fassbinder's own romantic relationship with his male lead El Hedi ben Salem (Tenderness of the Wolves/Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973)) , just one of many wild stories from Fassbinder's tumultuous life: Salem apparently stabbed three people and hanged himself in jail shortly after the film was completed.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a humanistic, warm and moving film that references Fassbinder's love for Douglas Sirk's old Hollywood melo-dramas All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Imitation of Life (1959), but is far from as sugar-coated in its style or imagery.
If this rare flower of a film doesn't touch your heart, you have a hard one indeed. Here is a delicate, deeply human look at love, racism and prejudice that refuses an easy conclusion. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is true gem and masterpiece.
Related posts:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder: The Marriage of Maria Braun/Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979) - Fassbinder blows up post-WWII Germany
Effi Briest/Fontane Effi Briest (1974) - Fassbinder makes film a novel in cold, divisive passion project
Watch 2 minutes of the film's beginning here
Cost: Estimated 260k DEM, equaling approximately 0.1 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain (15k $ are listed from the UK and North American markets)
= Uncertain
[Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was released 5 March (West Germany) and runs 93 minutes. It was made as a filmmaking exercise by Fassbinder in between two other projects, Martha (1974) and Effi Briest (1974). Shooting took place for 2 weeks in Munich, Germany in September 1973. The film played in competition at Cannes Film Festival, losing the Palme d'Or to Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation but getting two smaller prizes. It also won Mira a German Film award. Its theatrical performance in most markets, - including its West-German home market, - are regrettably not publicized. Besides the 15k $ UK/North-American gross, the film has made 162k $ as part of a 20-movie Fassbinder Series 2003 release in North America, or an 8k $ per film average. With its low budget, the film may well have been a success. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star rating, in line with this review. Fassbinder himself rated the film his 8th best one year before his early death by drugs and alcohol at age 37 in 1982. He returned with Martha (1974, TV movie) and theatrically with Effi Briest (1974). Salem returned in Martha, Like a Bird on a Wire/Wie ein Vogel auf dem Draht (1975, TV movie) and theatrically in Fox and His Friends/Faustrecht der Freiheit (1975) - his last credit; Mira in Ehrenhäuptling der Watubas (1974, TV movie) and theatrically in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser/Jeder für Sich und Gott gegen Alle (1974); and Barbara Valentin (Lili Marleen (1981)) in Martha, Motiv Liebe (1974, TV-series) and theatrically in Effi Briest (1974). Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is fresh at 100 % with a 9.34/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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