Angst essen Seele auf [Ali: Fear Eats the Soul] (1974)

(On Cable TV, June 2022) I wouldn’t dare criticize a filmmaker for wanting to do a Douglas Sirk-style melodrama if that’s what catches their creative fancy. But Sirk-style melodramas aren’t to everyone’s taste, and once you’re past the initial shock of recognition that, yes, this is what writer-director-producer Rainer Werner Fassbinder is going for in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, the film goes into very familiar territory. This intergenerational, interethnic romance between an older German woman and a Middle Eastern man hits most of the expected plot points – familiar disapproval (featuring Fassbinder himself as a surly bigot), social ostracism, cultural differences, jabs from outsiders not understanding what’s going on, and self-doubts. The only suspense here is whether love will prevail, and that’s not necessarily a given, since Fassbinder goes for his usual morose style throughout the film. The cinematography clearly aspires to gritty realism, something reinforced by the working-class surroundings and naturalistic acting. The film was reportedly shot in two weeks as an in-between project between two other bigger films and you can feel the go-for-broke energy of how it’s slapped together. Fassbinder fans will probably like it – Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is very well-regarded in general, and among Fassbinder’s filmography as well but for those who may not like the German director’s approach, there won’t be anything here to flip them over.