About

Boasting three of the major figures of New German Cinema, Baal is an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's expressionist play, directed by Volker Schlöndorff and starring Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. Several of Fassbinder's collaborators are also present: Irm Hermann, Hanna Schygulla, and Günther Kaufmann (Kaufmann and Fassbinder would meet on the set of Baal and later become lovers). The film was also shot by Dietrich Lohmann, Fassbinder's frequent cinematographer. Fassbinder portrays Baal, an unstable poet and anarchist rejected by bourgeois society. As Baal seeks to fill his void with sex, Schnapps, and cigarettes, he succumbs to despair and violence. Dissatisfied with the film, Brecht's widow refused to allow it to be shown for years.

Ages 18+