Review of Tenderness of the Wolves

I found this film to be more interesting than I expected. The film, to me, is clearly not meant to be a historic film about Fritz Haarmann. There is a line in the film that makes a reference to the Nazi's (their rise to power wasn't until nine years after Haarmann's execution) and how difficult life is for everyone in post-war Germany. The character of Fritz Haarmann was used as a metaphor for the German people "cannabalizing" each other just to survive. The costumes, language, and vehicles also seemed to be of a later decade. Much like Werner Herzog's "The Enegma of Kaspar Hauser", "Tenderness of the Wolves" uses a real historical figure (taken with some liberties) as a criticism of society as a whole. Having said that, the film is not particularly outstanding in any way. The concept is interesting, and contains the leading actors of Fassbinder's "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul", as well as Fissbinder himself. Still, I would have to say the film is only slightly above average; both as a Fassbinder film and the German New Wave.