Fear Eats The Soul DVD, 1973

This tale of the prejudices faced when a middle-aged cleaning lady falls in love with and marries a young Arab immigrant worker is a startling, bitter study of moral hypocrisy. Heavily influenced by Douglas Sirk's masterpiece All That Heaven Allows, Fear Eats The Soul features the famous scene where the cleaning lady's son kicks in the television screen to express his disgust.

Ali (El Hedi ben Salem) is a fortyish Moroccan auto mechanic living in Germany who feels estranged from his culture. Emmi Kurowski (Brigette Mira), who is close to six... more >

Ali (El Hedi ben Salem) is a fortyish Moroccan auto mechanic living in Germany who feels estranged from his culture. Emmi Kurowski (Brigette Mira), who is close to sixty, is a lonely cleaning lady who lost her husband many years ago and finds the outlets for companionship very limited. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by German master Rainer Werner Fassbinder is a simple and direct statement of love between an older woman and a younger man and also a biting commentary on the mentality of prejudice and the state of German society during a period of economic resurgence.

Emmi is an innately good person. They are drawn to each other out of a desperate need for love but as they see more of each other, they are subject to increasing hostility from nosy neighbors, co-workers, and members of Emmi's family. With limited dialogue, the camerawork enhances the feeling of isolation with wide shots that render the couple vulnerable to the stares of neighbors, family, waiters, and bar owners. As the relationship hits a rough spot, Ali longs for his native food that Emmi cannot or will not cook and turns to the owner of the local bar for sex and Couscous.

After a brief period of separation, they return to the bar where they first met as the film takes an unexpected turn. Brigette Mira turns in a solid performance as the lonely old woman, giving her the strength of character to withstand all of life's rejections. El Hedi ben Salem is magnificent as the strong stoic African who is able to give of himself to a very different kind of partner. Filled with the contradictions of German society in the 70s, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a poignant, honest, and revealing work of art.
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