4 ARTS The Michigan Daily Friday, September 21, 1984 Page6 Berlin Alexanderplatz kommt in die Stadt Fassbinder masterpiece eagerly awaited Ann Arbor filmgoers grown discon- tent with the almost usually staid and predictably safe campus film repetoire have cause for celebration this weekend. Starting tonight, through an unprecedented collaboration between the Ann Arbor Film Co-op, Cinema II, and the Cinema Guild, filmgoers have the chance to see a rare, specially structured.showing of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 15-and-a- half-hour-long magnum opus, Berlin Alexanderplatz. When he died at the tragically young age of 36 last year, Fassbinder had left behind an incredible legacy. In his 15 years as a writer/director he made an astonishing 43 films, all marked by a bizarrely idiosyncratic, widely eclectic style. Fassbinder has never been fully celebrated in his homeland. In fact, he received little recognition until American and French critics lauded him so heavily that their German coun-- ternarts did so in embarrassed hin- dsight. Fassbinder himself thought the reason was that few Germans, par- ticularly filmmakers, could stand to look inward and explore German history, and in particular, the psyche of the German people. Fassbinder did both. In absorbing works like Lola, Veronika Voss, and Lili Marleen, films with both tragic and comedic overtones and that were in their own right brilliant works, became mere practice shots for the work that had become a lifelong obsession. Fassbinder first read the novel by Alfred Doblin when he was 15 and it af- fected his deeply. He reread it repeatedly as he grew older, and even though one version had already been shot (a two hour condensation by Piel Jutzi in 1931), Fassbinder longed to create the definitie adaptation. The book had become a part of Fassbinder, who in an interview once admitted, "This book helped me from becoming totally sick, mendacious, desperate. It helped me not to go to pieces." Fassbinder finally got his chance, when a German-Italian production of- fered him total control over a $6 million mini-series for German television. Not .since Eric von Stroheim's disastrous attempt to make a nine hour version of Greed (subsequently cut to two incom- prehensible hours by MGM) had a director been offered such an expansive canvas to paint on. And Fassbinder went to work. After slaving over the screenplay for three months, he spent another 11 months shooting and editing his epic. The result is a work regarded as his most absor- bing, darkest study of human nature. Set in the late 1920s in a depressed Berlin, Fassbinder creates an in- triguing allegory of an ultra-modern Babylon. Underneath the gleaming metropolis, Fassbinder focuses on its rotting ghettos, the bars, alleys, and cabarets where English novelist Christopher Isherwood was likely to be wandering at that very time. It's inhabitants are whores, petty thieves, and assorted depraved riff-raff, all :4 4 4 Franz Biberkopf (Gunter Lamprecht) talks with his friend Meck (Franz Buchreiser) in the bar when he sees Lina (Elisabeth Trissenaar) for the first time. 4 caught beneath the crushing heels of an unsympathetic mega-society. Cast into this vortex of parasites and cheap opportunists is Fassbinder's in- cantation of Everyman, Franz Biberkopf (Guner Lamprecht). Over weight and dim witted, Biberkopf is swept off his feet by the circumstances: around him and despite his intentions to lead a decent life, is dragged down to the lowest depths of his soul. Even though the film was made for and shown on German television (as was Wolfgang Peterson's Das Boot), nothing about Fassbinder's appraoch mirrors those of American projects of the same format. Fassbinder treated the film as a cinematic project from its inception, lavishing it with extreme in- telligence and care to detail. He strove to make his screenplay much more than pure melodrama, and, designed it to work better on the large screen. With cinematographer Xaver Schwarzen- berger, Fassbinder lit and shot the film in intense shadows and lighting effects, which television tends to blur and distort. The style ranges from naturalistic to sometimes surreal, the sheer scope of the story demanding more than casual attention. It is generally acknowledged as Fassbib- der's most intensely personal work and this weekend's showing marks a rare opportunity to catch what may well become recognized as one of the classic movies of the decade. 4 4 MFi IF WI A Major Events Presentation Friday, October 19 8 p.m. Crisler Arena Tickets are $17.50 and $15.00 and go on sale Friday, sept. 21st at the Michigan Union Ticket Office and all Ticket World Outlets PROUD SPONSOR OF THE BARRY MANILOW TOUR 4O PyOO FREE BARRY MANILOW POSTER.. Bring this ad to your nearest Fox Photo along with your next roll of color film for developing and printingand you will receive a free 24" x 36" full-color poster of Barry. 4 Mieze (Barbara Sukowa) in her fatal encounter John) on the Freienwalde. with Reinhold (Gottfried X 763-1107 Pool WEDNESDAYS 7-8:30 p.m 10/10 to 11/7 $10/person Bike Repair WEDNESDAYS 7-9 p.m. Si5/person / Speed Reading WEDNESDAYS 7-9 p.m. 10/3 to 10/17 $50/person C.P.R. Section 1: Tu 6-10 p.m 10/9 to 10/16 Section 2: W 6-10p.m. 10/10 to 10/17 Section 3: Th 6-10 p.m. 10/11 to 10/18 Conversation European Travel TUESDAYS 7-9 p.m. OD 10/9 to 11/13 $10/person Ballroom Dancing MONDAYS 7-10 p.m. 10/22 to 11/19 $25/couple Registration Begins Monday Sept. 17 Michigan Union Ticket Office Mime MONDAYS 7-8:30 p.m. 10/8 to 11/5 $10/ person Magical Entertainment 9 27 to 10 18 $10/person Group therapy for women with eating disorders (bulimia, anorexia, compulsive overeating) Weekly evening sessions Starting early October Central Campus Location Individual & family therapy also available Insurance eligibility/sliding fee Institute for 4 * I I I 1