Re: Ali:Fear eats the soul

From: Freya (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Sep 29 2007 - 05:00:36 PDT


BTW big apologies that this film review is a bit of a
mess in places. I'm afraid I bashed it out in the
library as soon as I saw the film and I was distracted
watching what was going on in the library and not
looking at the screen.

Sometimes I find my hands mishear what I am typing and
type similar sounding words instead. Their/there
Where/were etc. I caught one of these before semnding
the email but now reading this back I see there is a
why instead of we (which I don't think even sound that
close), and there is a whole sentance missing at
least, which means that one of the paragraphs doesn't
really make proper sense. I know I was uncertain in
that place. I was going to write about my own
experiences in Germany but decided not to and somehow
I ended up not typing nything, despite the fact that
at the time I'm sure I did decide what to type.

Oh well I suppose I should be thankful my hands aren't
typing extra sentances I wasn't thinking of! ;)

Anyway I guess I should have read it before sending or
at least paid attention to what I was typing.

I'm also very, very behined on my emails as you may
notice!

love

Freya

P.S. Isn't Victoria Wolfe a lovely name! :)

--- Victoria Wolfe <email suppressed> wrote:

> I rented this one from the library months ago, maybe
> even a year ago
> [package labeled Ali: Fear Eats the Soul]
> and I watched all of it backwards and forwards over
> and over again.
>
> thank you for mentioning it here.
>
>
> On Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at 12:50 PM, Freya
> wrote:
>
> > Well it's preety off topic but having been out and
> > about and very depressed and not feeling up to
> really
> > going home, I wandered into the library and
> stumbled
> > across a fassbinder film called "Fear eats the
> soul".
> > I like Fassbinder films but they are often filled
> with
> > some kind of emptyness. It's part of his whole
> visual
> > style. Whereas Hollywood films are often full of
> some
> > sort of fantasy world, Fassbinder films are
> usually
> > full of some kind of harsh reality that on screen
> > appears a bit more harsh and real than even
> reality
> > is! It's almost like he wants to show you things
> are
> > real but at the same time wants you to know he is
> > doing it.
> >
> > I almost put the film right back. I've got plenty
> of
> > reality in my life at the moment thankyou very
> much,
> > but for some reason I didn't. Perhaps because I
> hadn't
> > seen the disc around before, and then for some
> reason
> > I also just opened the packet and put it straight
> into
> > the DVD player instead of putting the copy of "a
> > chinese ghost story" in there which was what I
> > actually wanted to watch. Having done so I kind of
> > lost the will to do anything but just watch it. I
> > could have pulled it out and put the other disc in
> but
> > that would have required some kind of actual
> effort
> > and by that point I was already vaguely curious if
> the
> > film would play if I hit the play button or if I
> would
> > be stuck in one of those menus you need a remote
> > control for.
> >
> > It played.
> >
> > I was very unprepared for what an incredible film
> I
> > was about to see. Fassbinder captures the reality
> of
> > society so acurately and the absolute complexity
> of
> > people. I love the part where the main woman in
> the
> > film insists on taking her new husband to an
> expensive
> > resurant where Hitler used to eat, as she has
> always
> > wanted to eat there! These kind of contradictions
> are
> > there throughout the film just as they are in life
> and
> > Fassbinder shows us not just these contradictions
> but
> > the struggle we have to be free in our lives not
> just
> > from our own prejudices but the ones that are
> imposed
> > on us from outside.
> >
> > There is a wonderful interview on the disc filmed
> on
> > what seems to be a mos film camera in Fassbinders
> > french flat. You can see outside through his
> window
> > and as the interview goes on it becomes night
> outside.
> > Fassbinder talks about all kinds of stuff and
> seems
> > like a very intelligent and thoughtful and honest
> man.
> > Although he refuses to use the word honest as even
> in
> > the interview he acknoledges that he doesn't know
> how
> > honest he is being because the societys that we
> live
> > in make us think a certain way and we can never be
> > completely and utterly sure what is truly
> ourselves
> > and what has been imposed from outside, no matter
> how
> > unconformist why might think ourselves.
> >
> > I also found it facinating to watch Fassbinder
> chain
> > smoking. He seemed so comfortable with his
> cigarettes
> > and so used to them that he would just waft them
> about
> > and virtually stick them in his hair and all over.
> I
> > wondered for a while if he was going to set fire
> to
> > his hair and if he would be bothered if he did. It
> was
> > strangely morbidly facinating to watch, although
> I'm
> > sure in real life this would annoy the hell out of
> me
> > as it's people who interact with cigarettes like
> this
> > who are likely to burn a hole in your skirt after
> a
> > few drinks. (although they still seem to never
> burn
> > themselves).
> >
> > I loved the cover art for this film too which is
> > another one of those artworks where you wonder if
> they
> > have actually seen the film or if they just fast
> > forwarded till they found the right pictures to
> make
> > the cover look good. Having watched the film, the
> > cover made me laugh.
> >
> > Todd Haynes is mentioned on the back of the cover
> too
> > which might have been what made me subconciously
> want
> > to stick the dvd in the player. Sadly the
> interview
> > with Todd is a bit deviod of anything really
> > substantial which was a dissapointment but the
> film is
> > a good comparison with "Far from Heaven" and
> perhaps
> > is even better. I need to go away and think about
> it.
> >
> > It's quite sad to hear Fassbinder talk about the
> way
> > things were heading in society and the missed
> > opportunity to really change things. I guess
> theres
> > just something fundamentally wrong with the way
> that
> > people are and so they get trapped in cycles of
> the
> > same things over and over.
> >
> > I guess we are all slaves to das
> Massen-Bewusstsein.
> > :(
> > It will always take a strong effort to break free.
> >
> > Sorry this film is all arthouse and only somewhat
> > experimental. I've not really seen any
> experimental
> > films for a while and while I could write about
> how
> > much I loved Decasia, I just don't feel like it
> right
> > now. Also I guess in my more positive moments I'm
> > looking for something else lately, but I'm not
> quite
> > sure what it is yet.
> >
> > If anyone wants to write to me off-list and
> recommend
> > other films I might want to try and track down on
> DVD
> > then please do. I'm intrested in people who are
> > creating their own kind of cinematic language (as
> > Fassbinder certainly does) in part or more
> wholesale.
> > I also love the work of Peter Watkins which
> probably
> > is experimental or certainly doesn't fit into the
> kind
> > of boxes you might expect. (just to give you some
> > idea)
> >
> > Other than that I'm intrested in experimental work
> > that might have a more political aspect (beyond
> the
> > usual supects of Maya, Stan, Kenneth, Jack etc)
> even
> > work from the cinema of exclusion that is somewhat
> > political. Yes It is out there, I've already come
> > across some of William Rabans films that fit this
> > category and theres also Guy Sherwin’s "Man with a
> > mirror", (which I love but I'm looking for things
> that
> > are less performance based) and I'm guessing there
> > must be other stuff out there that I don't know
> about
> > (because this is always the way with experimental
> > film).
> >
> > I don't know how to really express what I'm
> looking
> > for as ultimately I don't know what is yet so I'm
> > really sorry I'm being so vague. Point me in a
> vague
> > direction and I'll stumble around in the desert
> for a
> > while longer and see if I find anything. :)
> >
> > I hope you are all doing something magical. Life
> is
> > short.
> >
> > love
> >
> > Freya
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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>
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__________________________________________________________________
> > For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> <email suppressed>.
> >
>
>
>
__________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> <email suppressed>.
>

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__________________________________________________________________
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