One night, a lonely widow (Brigitte Mira) meets a much younger Moroccan guestworker (El Hedi ben Salem) in a bar during a rainstorm and the two fall in love, surprising themselves and everyone around them. In this homage to Douglas Sirk’s 1955 film All That Heaven Allows, renowned German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder transfers classical Hollywood melodrama to 1970s West Germany. Skillfully revealing the racial tensions in German culture at this time, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a critically acclaimed work that explores the difficulties of being a migrant/guest worker.
Presented with Goethe-Institut St. Louis.