An astonishing, momumental work. Over the short span of 17 years--from 1965, when he directed his first 10-minute film, up to his death on June 10, 1982--Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed some 90 hours of film and television. BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, an adaptation of Alfred Doblin's massive
novel made for German television, runs approximately 15 hours, and makes up one-seventh of Fassbinder's total output. Comprised of 13 episodes and an epilogue, the film stars Gunter Lamprecht as the pimp Franz Biberkopf, released from prison after serving time for murdering a prostitute. Now that
he has a certain freedom, he takes to the streets of Berlin in the late 1920s in search of his identity.
Simply recounting the plot does no justice to Fassbinder or the film. What Doblin tried to do in his novel (written from 1927 to 1929) was to put into print the atmosphere of Berlin life. Acknowledging his debt to Doblin, Fassbinder has said, "I had quite simply, without realizing it, made
Doblin's fantasy into my life." In that sense, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ is not the story of Berlin, but the story of Fassbinder--and in these 15 hours the two are inseparable. leave a comment
