Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was made in two weeks - an experiment for prolific filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He made it between two other works: Martha and Effi Briest. However, Fear Eats the Soul has slowly and surely become Fassbinder's most acclaimed and accessible work. It's rivaled by virtually no other in the New German Cinema movement. How different would this film have been if it were made as a big budget production? What is it about this low-budget, indie filmmaking that proves so resilient?
Rainer Werner Fassbinder remains one of the most important figures in the New German Cinema. He is prolific for several reasons, but one aspect of his career that stands out is how fast he worked. His career only lasted a relatively short fifteen years; but, in that time, he completed forty films, and dozens of other media productions. He was also skilled in acting, writings, composing, designing, editing, and producing... all in addition to directing. Fassbinder's themes usually involved clear distaste for the rich and famous, and this caused deep-rooted problems in his personal life. He was infamous for torturing his friends and family both physically and emotionally... including long-time boyfriend El Hedi ben Salem (who played Ali in this film). While Salem was involved with Fassbinder personally, Brigitte Mira (Emmi) was a staple of the director, appearing in several of the filmmaker's works. The director himself has a cameo in the film as Emmi's son-in-law.
There is much political unrest in Ali, namely dealing with the fact that Fassbinder openly attacks traditional relationships- the main couple is a pair that transcends race and age and fall madly in love with each other. Though they struggle with maintaining their cultural heritages, Ali and Emmi ultimately need each other in order to be happy. Is this something we've moved past in Hollywood? Sure, there are more homosexual couples and less "traditional" families being portrayed in the media- but is this progress as radical as it could (or even should) be?
Look at the way Fassbinder plays with color and frames in this film. I find it fascinating looking at these characters from a distance, and how the director presents that in the production. In fact, one of my favorite shots is the window scene right after Emmi's friends abandon her because of her relationship with Ali. In terms of colors, pay close attention to the yellows and the reds, and what each could mean. In particular, look at the benches when they get lunch (pictured here). This is Mira's best acting in the movie, but it's also important in terms of understanding the whole picture. How are each of the characters portrayed in the various shots? What changes as the film progresses?
Fear Eats the Soul won numerous accolades in 1974, including a few at the Cannes Film Festival, and Best Actress for Mira. Today, it is considered a cornerstone film in the New German Cinema movement. How did you like it?
Honestly I didn't really like this movie. The ending wasn't really realistic to me at all, and the whole story is kind of out there. Instead of actually talking about any of their problems, the couple kind of steam rolls over them and the end leaves Ali as the movie found him, unable to speak or make real decisions. To me, Emmi made all the decisions for him, and that's not really how relationships should work to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did like was how low budget the film was. Had it been a big budget Hollywood flick, it would have been completely unrealistic. The way the film was shot, with less angles and muted colors, it made the very unrealistic plot seem like it could take place in a world similar to our own. Otherwise, the movie wasn't at all realistic and the lack of a final message makes it even more so.
Anna--I think you actually hit on an interesting class issue in this movie. These are not reflective people. They don't really have a vocabulary to talk about what they are feeling our what they want. A cosmopolitan, educated couple might be able to navigate these differences, but these two are just following an impulse. Once they stray from their culturally determined path they have very few resources to construct their own way, hence the pain and "drama" that emerges. It's about working class people in a way that we rarely see.
DeleteI appreciated the reality that this film presented. The prejudice against foreigners, the judgement against the couple, situations like these still exists. Xenophobia is a current issue, and it is struggle for people to overcome their prejudices. I do not think that it was a film that wanted to promote a clear message, rather it was made to present a reality. The finale of the film surprised me in how anticlimactic was.
ReplyDeleteIndie-filmaking suited a script like this, big budget films would have added glitz and glamour to the romance. The romance was more subtle and soft, so it would not suit the Hollywood glamour style.
I did not enjoy this film, honestly it made me uncomfortable and depressed afterwards. I suppose that is the feeling the director was going for. But I do recommend this as a film to watch at least once.
This film was a very interesting experience for me. Prior to taking this course, I would not have liked Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. However, after taking this course I’m much more able to understand exactly what reaction/emotion the director is trying to evoke from the audience. With that understanding, I was actually able to enjoy this film. Fassbinder is not trying to make his audience feel comfortable watching the film. By utilizing silence, certain camera movements/camera angles, etc. throughout the film to generate feelings of discomfort, I think Fassbinder did an incredible job. But he also did this by challenging traditional relationships, which is also where a bulk of this discomfort comes from in the film.
ReplyDeleteI do not think challenging the norm of “traditional relationships” is something that Hollywood has moved past. I would agree there is a larger degree of acceptance with homosexuality, but I think that is where it stops. In terms of religion (ex. Jewish boy falling in love with an Arab woman, or vice versa) and race (interracial marriages or relationships), those are two important issues (big challenges to traditional relationships) that many people still struggle to accept in everyday society, and are rarely seen in Hollywood films.
This film was quite "unique" to say the least. From the slow scenes to the cloudy weather, this movie seemed a little bit depressing. While somewhat interesting, one could see how how race played such a large role in Germany at the time. I could not help but see a similarity in terms of the presidential election we just had. Many Americans, like the Germans depicted, exhibited a hostile view towards "foreigners." Since I majored in political science, that is how I magnified things. Nevertheless, I thought the movie was below average.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked the film. It did make me really uncomfortable, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The situation in the movie is not comfortable, so it should be uncomfortable to watch, and I think Fassbinder did a good job of portraying that discomfort through the cinematography.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Hollywood has moved past challenging "traditional" relationships. Age gaps are very one sided, with the man usually being much older. Whenever a woman in a movie is older, it's usually presented as a novelty. Most of the time, if there is a same-sex couple it is two men, and two women are rarely portrayed outside of the occasional movie that is about the relationship. Same-sex relationships still aren't really portrayed casually in Hollywood, as most of the time the relationship is the major obstacle in the movie and the couple is rarely shown having any normal relationship problems. Interracial couples are still pretty rare as well, as are inter-faith couples.