Monday 20 October 2014



Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf)
Dir: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1974
*****
Fear Eats the Soul is Fassbinder at his most accessible and probably most important. Brigitte Mira and El Hedi ben Salem's performances are cinematic gold in a film that not only highlights racial prejudices but also that of age and culture and the hypocrisies of bigoted society. I don't understand how a film like the wonderful Harold & Maude has changed opinion of unconditional love but Fear eats the Soul hasn't. Nearly 40 years on and sadly not much has changed as far as attitude. Compare the power of the story with the simplicity of the film along with it's timelessness and what you have here is a true masterpiece of cinema.

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