(Rainer Werner
Fassbender/1974/Germany)
An aul
wan gets the horn for a black lad and the fabric of 1970’s German
society threatens to unravel. Or at least you’d think so given the
reaction of their friends and family to their new found love.
Fassbender unflinchingly portrays the racism and intolerance bubbling
underneath in people that vents when confronted with a situation that
challenges their world view, a situation they cannot or will not try
to understand. It is striking that the only character to accept the
relationship between 60 odd year old Emmi and 40 odd year old Ali is
the landlord, the acceptance being predicated by a financial concern.
He lashed this movie out in a fortnight which is amazing given how
precisely he captures the swell of prejudice which then erodes the
love at the heart of the film. The fear of the title is the fear of
being unaccepted and left outside of society or your community. It is
an excellent, perceptive and uncompromising film like most of his
work and despite all his acidity the depiction of love at the core of
it is genuinely endearing. It is also a film that still resonates
today in the context of growing nationalism and debates about
immigration globally.
(4/5)
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