Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

*SPOILER FREE

The film starts with this opening line: "HAPPINESS IS NOT ALWAYS FUN". The fact that I would often perceive the words 'happiness' and 'art' as synonyms I could've stopped the film right then and still call it a masterpiece.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is romance drama following Emmi, a lonely, 60-year old German widow, and Ali, a Moroccan migrant in his late 30s working in post WWII Germany, as they meet, fall in love in the midst of racism coming at them from every direction.

I have just watched the number one film on my watchlist of German cinema for the first time after years of hearing about its significance to arthouse, world cinema. And to be honest, I am very sure how I feel about it.

After about an hour of wandering thoughts on whether or not to include it in my 101 list of great movies, I came to a conclusion that it's all around such films and such after-screening confusing nights my enriched cinematic experience and love to this art form was shaped.

Despite its puzzling style and unconventional acting, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul astonished me with its visual narrative, the cinematography is fresh and symbolic, excellent framing and tracking shots.

The Fassbinder film's premise or message is not very clear, yet it is thought-provoking and keeps you in a state of awe from its opening to its closing scene.

To conclude, I might like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul better on a second viewing or I might not. I do, nonetheless, highly recommend checking it out if you wish to widen your horizons within the art of cinema and storytelling.

...

Available to watch on HBO Max, The Criterion Collection, and on Amazon Prime Video

#hamzeh101 #101movies #rainerwernerfassbinder #alifeareatsthesoul #onlygreatcinema #blackandwhite #motionpictures #arthouse #movies #cinema #art