Ali: Fear Eats The Soul

217 Words1 Pages
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, is about the unexpected and discordant relationship between an elderly cleaning lady named Emmi and a Moroccan guest worker named Ali. The film takes place in 70s Germany, during a time when the country was fraught with racism; immigrants were treated at the time with complete contempt. Both Ali and Emmi throughout the film are marginalized for the dichotomy of Ali being Moroccan and Emmi, a born and bred German. Potentially the scene that epitomizes Fassbinder’s opprobrium for German society occurs when Ali and Emmi are in a restaurant together, isolation apparent as onlookers keep their distance from the recently married couple. Thomas Waterberg wrote about in his book ‘Unlikely