Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) on Netflix
Emmi Kurowski, a widowed cleaning lady, is lonely. She meets Ali, a Moroccan worker, in a bar used by Arab immigrants. Their friendship becomes more, and they decide to marry.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb8.0/1026,316 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Emmi Kurowski works as a cleaning lady. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children give her little company. Driven in by the rain one night, she enters a bar used by Arab immigrants and listens to the music. Barbara, the barmaid, urges Ali, a Moroccan worker, to ask Emmi to dance, and she accepts. Their friendship develops into something more, and Ali moves into her flat. When they decide to marry, those around them are appalled, and the two must face their own insecurities about their future.
Cast
- Anita Bucheras Mrs. Ellis
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Irm Hermann, who plays Emmi's daughter Krista, had a turbulent real-life relationship with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder and said of him: "He couldn't conceive of my refusing him, and he tried everything. He almost beat me to death on the streets of Bochum".
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder shot Ali: Fear Eats the Soul in just under two weeks, planning it as a film-making exercise to fill time in his schedule between his work on two other films, Martha and Effi Briest.
- Ali's broken German, including the line "Fear eat soul up" that gave the film its title, was translated literally into the English subtitles, which are consequently full of grammatical errors.
