Ali: Fear Eats The Soul

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - 1974
It is unfair not to invoke the name of Brecht; but I'm uncomfortable doing so, because my viewing of this film isn't really able to answer the Brechtian questions of why, and how, distancing is created from the action. There is literal distance, in the camerawork, and as in 'The Merchant Of Four Seasons' bare settings. The actors obvioudly completely underplay compared to classic realism.
This film though also moves into SRS; we are complicit in the actions as we are distanced, because of the undeniable, and not specifically Brechtian, emotional pull. The process of looking in an SRS, eyeline match formula, as Hitchcock masters, does pull us in emotionally. No words needed; look at the long back and forth, long takes that is, at the garage here. We realise we are peeping, looking, just like the terrible members of society do, but we also do do this looking, are involved.
The reticence here (mistaking Brecht for reticence!), or rather the emotion of the pure look, brought me to 'A Farewell to Arms' by Borzage. Though what this film really is is 'All That Heaven Allows', plus race (so why isn't it 'Far From Heaven?' Answer: Brecht?). It is an absolutely brutal taking apart of German society, seeing the initial prejudice only subsumed by egotism. No wonder Ali feels alone even when things seem to be going well. Add to this past membership of the NAZI party. It is sharp, of course Effi is deeply implicated, and Ali perhaps to an extent. That we are forced to identify with this, emotionally, as well as distanced, we are not part, creates an interesting double movement. Lots to think about here.