Review of Fear of Fear (1975) by Ryan M — 07 Apr 2009

This film is so deeply considered that I can't help but appreciate it. Fassbinder turns filmic space into an arena of gazes while sensitively managing to never privilege a dominant perspective -- no small feat. (One could argue that the audience's perspective is dominant, but even that is undermined when Fassbinder denies us any footage from Emmi and Ali's vacation, as if to establish an affinity between our gaze and the judgemental gazes Emmi and Ali seek to escape). Visual motifs are tracked with such intense focus that one becomes acutely aware of what's changed narratively or psychologically whenever said motifs resurface, providing further evidence of deep authorial sensitivity. The attention paid to door frames is especially memorable; each frame represents a kind of prison that characters momentarily or permanently consign themselves to (or that greater social forces consign them to), and the long shots that present these motifs are executed with a hushed expressionism that's totally opposed to what Herzog or Syberberg were doing with that tradition at the time (not to denigrate the work of either of them). Very beautiful and painful simultaneously.

'Ali: Fear Eats the Soul' is less sour than Fassbinder's later "Sirkian" material, though its content -- a study of prejudice -- is arguably just as disturbing, despite the treatment being more stoic and the acting more naturalistic. I thought I detected some unproductive cynicism about interracial relationships in it, but ultimately I think that reaction is the inevitable result of Fassbinder's bold refusal to deal with any volatile issue sans some amount of ambivalence and complexity. There just aren't any saints here.