User Reviews

You can see this short film as one of the "extra features" on the Criterion Collection DVD of Fassbinder's original "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul". It's about ten minutes long, and not a completely bore. However, you definitely should not see it if you haven't already seen the Fassbinder original, since it will make no sense.

The short film tells the true story of the fate of one of the actors of the theatre version of Fassbinder's film who was beaten up by Neo-Nazis on his way to the playhouse. The film is shot completely from the point of view of this man, so you never actually see the protagonist's face, which makes for an interesting, if not wholly original, effect. The best parts of the short film are the close-ups of Brigitte Mira's beautiful, endlessly fascinating, face. Even better is the interview with her on the Criterion Collection DVD.

This 2002 12-minute movie written and directed by Shahbaz Noshir tells us the story of a Black German man who is on his way to playing the male lead in a stage version of Fassbinder's "Angst essen Seele auf". He has an argument with his casting director, then gets in a fight with a bunch of Nazis and finally is interrogated in a police car about the incident. In the end, he still makes it to the play in time and gives a great performance despite (or maybe because of) his injuries and what he just experienced. I quite liked the way all the characters were written in here, especially the police man in the car interrogating the protagonist. Good job and I'm positive Fassbinder may have liked it. Quite a shame Noshir hasn't made any other movies since his effort here from 13 years ago. Oh yeah, final note, we never see the protagonist as this is a rare occurrence of a first-person perspective (more common in video games), so if that is not your cup of tea, stay away. But everybody else, especially those who loves the original can give this one a chance. It's also truly nice to see Brigitte Mira in here for one scene. She was already in her 90s at this point.