Editing Rainer Werner Fassbinder (section)

====''Ali: Fear Eats the Soul'' (1974)====
Fassbinder first gained international success with ''[[Fear Eats the Soul]]'' (''Angst essen Seele auf'', 1974). This film was shot in 15 days in September 1973 with a very low budget, ranking among Fassbinder's quickest and cheapest. Nevertheless, the impact on Fassbinder's career and in overseas release remains cemented as a great and influential work. It won the International Critics Prize at [[Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]] and was acclaimed by critics everywhere as one of 1974's best films.

''Fear Eats the Soul'' was loosely inspired by Sirk's ''All That Heaven Allows'' (1955). It details the vicious response of family and community to a lonely aging white cleaning lady who marries a muscular, much younger black Moroccan immigrant worker. The two are drawn to each other out of mutual loneliness. When their relationship becomes known, they experience various forms of hostility and public rejection. Gradually, their relationship is tolerated, not out of real acceptance, but because those around the good-hearted old lady realize their ability to exploit her is threatened. As the external pressures over the couple begin to subside, internal conflicts surface.