10 Things I Learned: Baal
By
March 29, 2018Volker Schlöndorff transported Bertolt Brecht’s 1918 debut play to contemporary West Germany for this vicious experiment in adaptation, seldom seen for nearly half a century. Oozing with brutish charisma, Rainer Werner Fassbinder embodies the eponymous anarchist poet, who feels that bourgeois society has rejected him and sets off on a schnapps-soaked rampage. Hewing faithfully to Brecht’s text, Schlöndorff juxtaposes the theatricality of the prose with bare-bones, handheld 16 mm camera work, which gives immediacy to this savage story of rebellion. Featuring a supporting cast drawn from Fassbinder’s troupe of theater actors that also includes Margarethe von Trotta, Baal demonstrates the uncompromising vision of its director, a trailblazer of the New German Cinema.
Baal | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
Ekart | Sigi Graue |
Sophie | Margarethe von Trotta |
Mech | Günther Neutze |
Emilie | Miriam Spoerri |
Johanna | Irmgard Paulis |
Johannes | Marian Seidowsky |
Director | Volker Schlöndorff |
Produced by | Hellmut Haffner, Hans Prescher and Volker Schlöndorff |
Play by | Bertolt Brecht |
Teleplay by | Volker Schlöndorff |
Cinematography by | Dietrich Lohmann |
Production design by | Hanna Axmann |
Edited by | Peter Ettengruber |
Music by | Klaus Doldinger |
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:
March 27, 2018
New German Cinema filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta shares her memories of working with Rainer Werner Fassbinder on the set of Volker Schlöndorf’s 1970 film Baal. Read more »
March 22, 2018
Longtime friends and collaborators Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman, who stopped by last year to contribute to our new edition of Baal, took a trip into our closet to pick up some favorite . . . Read more »
By
March 20, 2018The careers of three iconic German artists—Bertolt Brecht, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Volker Schlöndorff—converged in this unflinching portrait of destructive genius. Read more »
By
March 20, 2018The careers of three iconic German artists—Bertolt Brecht, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Volker Schlöndorff—converged in this unflinching portrait of destructive genius. Read more »
March 27, 2018
New German Cinema filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta shares her memories of working with Rainer Werner Fassbinder on the set of Volker Schlöndorf’s 1970 film Baal. Read more »
March 22, 2018
Longtime friends and collaborators Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman, who stopped by last year to contribute to our new edition of Baal, took a trip into our closet to pick up some favorite . . . Read more »
By
March 20, 2018The careers of three iconic German artists—Bertolt Brecht, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Volker Schlöndorff—converged in this unflinching portrait of destructive genius. Read more »