Review of Fear of Fear (1975) by Matt G — 27 Jan 2008

The most important thing I took from this film is its very obvious style. Fassbinder had a distinct and important vision that I'm sure he would have extended if he had not died at such a young age.

He takes a premise that is fairly typical (two unlikely people fall in love) and films it with extended shots of silence and long glares that force the viewer to wake up and realize this is not going to be an accessible film.

We get the gist of each character - Ali is a lonely foreigner who acknowledges his disadvantage in society, Emmi is a lonely forgotten maid who acknowledges her insignificance in society. A connection grows between them, and makes their lives even more difficult.

Something definitely exists between them, though, so they cannot turn their backs on it. Ali, for the most part, is an obedient yet independent man. Maybe he has trained himself to be this way in order to survive in Germany.

Emmi is a much more complicated character. We see many shifts in their tone and mood throughout the film, which is interesting. I felt the film would go a darker and more somber path, but it did not. It maintained its mood throughout.

Overall, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is an emotional and simultaenously uninvolving film. I cannot quite verbalize what Fassbinder's style is, but it definitely is. This is worth watching a couple more times.