Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

"Angst essen Seele auf" or "Fear Eats the Soul" is a German movie from over 40 years ago written and directed by one of the most controversial filmmakers of the 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder. This is probably my favorite work from him, even if I like "Martha" a lot as well.

In many ways this is a sweet little film and I can easily understand how some people would feel enchanted by its story. And yes I totally get the importance of its message.

An honest and revealing film about the cruel German society filled with hatred, racism, intolerance and at last their acceptance. The film is loaded with extraordinary scenography, a technique of framing shots so motionless yet stylish.

Very few low stars some who didn't like it thought the acting was wooden, stereotype leads, & 1 dimensional- I disagree, and am more with the higher star ratings.this holds up.

The most literal translation for the title would be 'Fear eat the soul'. The sentence is uttered by Ali in the kitchen with Emmi when they are discussing whether or not their relationship has any future, and it marks how he does not fully master the German language.

We all want to belong. Somewhere, to something, or to someone.

Emmi, a 60 year old widowed cleaner decides to enter a bar that is playing Arabic music to shield from the rain. She sits at a table on her own far from the regulars who are at the other side of the bar.

A young African guy and an elderly ex-Nazi party woman in her sixties meet in a German bar primarily catering to North Africans working in the lower echelons of post-war German society. An unlikely relationship develops which, I almost said 'naturally' (!

Set in Germany, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Fear Eats the Soul" charts the relationship between Emmi (Brigitte Mira), a middle-aged widow, and Ali (El Hedi ben Salem), a Moroccan immigrant. The film is loosely inspired by Douglas Sirk's "All That Heaven Allows".