👋 Hi, blog!
🎥 This week's film was Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. This film falls under the German cinema category. Like other film eras, German cinema wanted to try new things that would make films distinct from the past. The history before this new German cinema came to be was intense. It basically revolved around WWII and Nazis who were destroying all the progress that came after the first world war. Germans knew that their history was rough and since they had pretty much witnessed their close older family members go through so many struggles, they felt like they had to include a bit of it in their films. This can be seen in this week's film since there was a part in which Emmi talked about Hitler's favorite restaurant.
😬 This film brings so many uncomfortable feelings. From the start, there is so much blank staring and awkwardness. Although this film appears to be one in which love is born, it is everything but that. Ali had been dared to ask Emmi to dance with him and that was what started their relationship. Their marriage happened because of a lie Emmi had told to avoid having Ali kicked out. The stares were so uncomfortable and anyone could tell that it was because of how weird Emmi and Ali's relationship was. Having an interracial and intergenerational relationship with someone is something that was not seen very often. There was underlying racism, too, which was seen when the store owner had refused to bring service to Ali. Everyone was so fake to each other in this film. Emmi's cleaning lady friends gave her the silent treatment and when new gossip came to their hometown, everyone suddenly became friendly with Emmi again, even the store owner since he knew he needed the business. To avoid being an outcast once more, Emmi started objectifying Ali. She made him do people favors and showed him off as if he were a trophy.
👍 There was such good use of mirrors in this film. This is not restricted to literal mirrors, rather it's open to figurative mirroring. In one scene where Ali was showering, a mirror represented how Ali was going to be exposed to the public. His privacy was invaded and that mirrored how his body would be touched without consent by Emmi's cleaning lady friends in a later scene. The mirrors to me also represent how what we are seeing is what we are doing. By this, I mean how we see everyone blankly staring at Emmi and Ali just like us, the viewers of this film, who also blankly stare at the screen while watching this film. This film mirrored actions, too, like how the scene near the ending brings us deja vu since it's so similar to the opening scene (the dancing at the bar). The scene where the cleaning ladies would ignore one of the members of their group was also mirrored in this film. By the end of the film, we found out how this exact situation of having Ali at the hospital would continue to repeat in the future. That means that there would be no happy ending like more romantic films have. Honestly, I thought about how the staring can reflect how we, the viewers, tend to feel when we're out in public. Sometimes we start to think that our every move is being watched by someone and we are afraid to make a mistake or embarrass ourselves. It's kind of silly of us to think that everyone else would stay so still just to watch us as if we were the main characters of a film.
👀 If you don't think you can handle seeing people watch other people as if in a trance, I don't recommend this film to you. It is a very uncomfortable film that deals with weird relationships. There is so much toxicity.
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Yes, it seems as if Emmi and Ali's relationship is more of a misunderstanding. Perhaps, to reflect on the ideals of marriage? I also talked about Ali being seen almost as an exhibit, and I agree. As discussed he has no private life, everything about Ali is public. I also might argue that there is general male toxicity in the film too.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that this film is also a critique of the institution of marriage is a really good one and was, unfortunately, not brought up much in class. I think we could spend a whole week talking about how this movie explores loneliness and alienation that occurs even in the context of marriage and family.
DeleteI read that the actor who played Ali, El Hedi ben Salem, was Fassbinder's lover when this film was made. I think the mirrored shower scene exhibits Ali to the audience and the public like you said, but I think another aspect of it is Fassbinder's own lust.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a super disturbing thought that I had not even thought about before. This is especially upsetting when you think about the fact that El Hedi ben Salem committed suicide when their affair ended. Yikes! Thanks for making the movie even more disturbing Aaron!
DeleteI think that your comments about mirroring are really insightful. There is so much to be understood by seeing the mirrors as both a metaphor but also just another flat surface to reflect these characters realities.
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