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Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s epic adaptation of Alfred Döblin’s German novel, written (and set) between two world wars in the 20th century, is still every bit the towering achievement it appeared to be upon the episodic, 15-hour film’s 1983 theatrical release in America. The story of a hapless lug buffeted by forces of discontent and disastrous change in Germany--following the country’s defeat at Versailles and during the rise of the Third Reich--Berlin Alexanderplatz is a roaming, hulking nightmare about people with no control over their destinies. The film opens with central character Franz Biberkopf (Gunter Lamprecht) struggling to reintegrate into the world after a four-year incarceration for murdering his girlfriend. Half-mad with guilt, sensory overload, sexual starvation and general disorientation, Franz goes in search of a plan for survival but finds the ground constantly shifting beneath his feet. Hooking up with the docile Lina (Elisabeth Trissenaar), Franz vows to straighten out his life and avoid his old tendencies toward petty thievery and pimping. But the alternatives are typically eclipsed by bad luck, unstoppable impulses, temptation and violent opposition between crime and order, Communists and fascists, dreamers and scoundrels. Over time, Franz becomes everything from shoelace salesman to Nazi sympathizer to pawn of a crime boss to victim of his fate. Along the way, he falls apart repeatedly, then picks himself up to see what might come next. Unfortunately, what comes next is generally another peek into the social and economic chaos of his time. Fassbinder, who died at age 36 before Berlin Alexanderplatz was released theatrically in America, found in Döblin’s story something akin to the running theme of despair in his own, prolific output of 40 movies. Among his several masterpieces, Berlin Alexanderplatz is in a league of its own, not to be missed. --Tom Keogh
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder s wildly controversial fifteen-hour-plus Berlin Alexanderplatz, based on Alfred Döblin s great modernist novel, was the crowning achievement of a prolific director who, at age thirty-four, had already made forty films. Fassbinder s immersive epic, restored in 2006 and available on DVD in this country for the first time, follows the hulking, violent, yet strangely childlike ex-convict Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he attempts to become an honest soul amidst the corrosive urban landscape of Weimar-era Germany. With equal parts cynicism and humanity, Fassbinder details a mammoth portrait of a common man struggling to survive in a viciously uncommon time.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
New German Cinema's Mega Movie,
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This review is from: Berlin Alexanderplatz (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)
Twenty-six years after its creation Berlin Alexanderplatz is finally given the restoration it so desperately deserved.Fassbinder's monumental fifteen plus hour epic has been completely restored and remastered so that the story of the hapless Franz Biberkopf can finally be experienced in all its glory.
The film (presented in 13 episodes and an epilogue) follows the daily life of Franz Biberkopf (Gunter Lamprecht) from his release from prison for the murder of his girlfriend as he tries to lead a decent life in post World War I Berlin. Along the way he becomes among other things a seller of shoestrings, a newspaper salesman, a pimp and a petty thief. Fassbinder's world is populated with a panoply of ordinary people and lowlifes. The key is that the viewer begins to care about these people as if he knew them. One reviewer described the Biberkopf character as an uncle that the German people invited into their homes each week. The film looks like it never looked before. Director of Photography, Xaver Schwarzenberger says that the image is now able to be seen as it was intended. Originally shot on 16mm the film has been completely restored and the color regraded. The result, while not perfect is as good as it has ever been. The film has a sort of brownish gold glow that suits it quite well. The package by Criterion presents the film in a windowboxed version that runs for 941 minutes. This is about 4% longer than the original due to a NTSC slow down of the original Pal 25 frame per second master. The sound is mono but holds up quite well and the subtitling is clear and easy to read. The bonus features are quite good and feature two shorts by film editor Juliane Lorenz on the making of the film and its restoration, a contemporary documentary on Fassbinder's working methods and a discussion of the original novel by historian Peter Jelavich. Perhaps the most significant extra is the complete 1931 film version by Phil Jutzi. This is a highly recommended set for any fan of serious cinema.
40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the 5 Greatest Achievements in Cinema History,
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This review is from: Berlin Alexanderplatz (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)
Long one of the most sought after video bootlegs in the world, Fassbinders' 931 minute tele-film adaptation of the Alfred Doblin novel "Berlin Alexanderplatz" is one of the all time great accomplishments in cinema. It was originally filmed in 16 millimeter as a German television series; shown in the USA in both a two day 7+ hour a day festival type event, and in shortened versions... Having the full version, restored (hopefully lovingly and successfully), is something very long in the waiting. For any true student of the art of cinema this is a must have. There is decidedly too much to say, or risk giving away, by giving a plot review of this nearly 16 hour masterpiece. For 27 years I have told people that "the last 3 hours of this film is possibly the greatest achievement in film art history." Why? Fassbinder directs like a master conductor artfully emulating the styles of a pantheon of the great cinema maestro's to that date - at the same time proving both their genius -- and his own. Stock the house with German fare and bier, wait for a long rainy weekend, get together with a literate friend or two - and enter into one of the most rewarding, fascinating, and awe inspiring examples of filmic story telling ever created. It is not always a happy story to be sure -- but it is indeed one of the most astounding viewing experiences a spectator can ever have.
60 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's like an old friend coming back into your life, or the prodigal son returning, and you realise how much you still love him.,
This review is from: Berlin Alexanderplatz (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)
David Lean, one of my favorite directors and the man responsible for Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, once said that seeing a film after you haven't seen it in a long time was like seeing an old friend you haven't seen for a dog's age, and it makes you feel alive again when the memories flow within you and your friend. I feel like that now, as Criterion has decided to return a film/miniseries/friend whom I have not seen in what feels like an eternity. I feel like this miniseries, which I watched as a young person and have never forgotten it (I saw it on PBS...imagine what the ignorants in Congress would say about PBS broadcasting it today), is coming to pay its respects to me, and I look so forward to seeing it and embracing it. This is a truly magnificent achievement in film/television history, one of Fassbinder's most towering achievements, and a milestone in what television and film can do. All the episodes are wonderful, but the epilogue (as one reviewer noted) is truly amazing, and seeing it as a young person really fired my imagination. Fassbinder made his own boundaries in his life and in his art, then always crossed them. There is no better example than this film/miniseries. I miss him terribly (he died a few years after this miniseries was completed), and his art. But thankfully, as with all great artists, the art lives on, breathing, living, and embracing each one of us who comes in contact with it, touching us, and staying with us forever...
A wonderful, truly ironic thing about this miniseries is that when it was broadcast in West Germany, it was actually a critical and commercial failure. Fassbinder was a lightning rod for controversy in West Germany, and this film didn't help matters much. It was shot on 16mm, and when broadcast, many Germans didn't have color televisions at this time, and the print was too muddy, killing off the potential for any meaningful viewership (this edition has been loving restored by Xaver Schwarzenberger, the cinematographer of this film and much of Fassbinder's later output). When it was shown here in the States, it first appeared in cinemas, shown over the course of 3 days or so. The press loved it, and it was a major happening on the art house circuit, and later it appeared on PBS. It was Americans, who aren't universally known for their sense of art, who really rescued this film/miniseries from obscurity. It shows (at least to me) that once upon a time this country had a very good notion about art. Even though that was many years ago, it still gives one hope that we're not all doomed to artistic illiteracy and idiocy. It is worthy to note that the incredibly prolific Fassbinder managed to write the script for this epic in 3 months, shoot it in roughly 150 days or so, come in a month ahead of schedule on the shooting, and had the final cut edited shortly after completing shooting. His editor and lover at the time, Julianne (contrary to popular belief, Fassbinder was BISEXUAL, not strictly gay, as he is commonly referred to), says in her documentary on the bonus disc that they were editing as they were shooting. Fassbinder shot only a few takes of a scene, quite often getting it one take. To make such a masterpiece in such a short time is remarkable. It makes me wonder about how some directors who insist on many, many takes. I adore Kubrick, Chaplin, and Lean (for example), but quite often, they would take very long with their films and shoot a large number of takes. All three of them have something in common. The more control they assumed at the end of the careers, the longer they took to put out films, and their later films are not nearly as good as their classic work. Just an observation. As for the film itself, it's filled with great performances, including a towering, defining one by Gunther Lampecht, who is practically in all of the 15 1/2 hours you see here. It is one of the greatest performances in European cinema. Barbara Sukowa is wonderful as Mieze, and Gottfried John is wonderful as Rheinhold, Franz's sometime friend, sometime enemy. Xaver Schwarbennger's cinemtography is first rate, and he oversaw the restoration of this mammoth work for the Fassbinder foundation and this DVD. Just everything in this monumental production works brilliantly. Criterion's DVD is excellent. The whole film is featured on 7 discs, and there are tons of extras that are really worth watching. There is a documentary that was shot when the miniseries was made called "Notes on the Making of Berlin Alexanderplatz". I always like watching older "film" documentaries because people weren't so media literate then. They were more natural (even filmmakers and actors) and didn't "play" for the camera. Julianne Lorenz's documentary looking back on the production is wonderful. It mainly consists of reminiscing, and people marveling on how Fassbinder managed to accomplish what he set out to do. There isn't any "analyzing" of the film itself, which is very welcome. There's a documentary on the restoration, which is fascinating. They essentially had to take a 15 1/2 hour film shot on 16mm (which is not the greatest format anyway), and completely digitize it to save it and transfer it to the DVD you see here. And there is the original film by Phil Jutzi made in 1931. It can't really compare to Fassbinder's film, but it's interesting to watch nevertheless. It is wonderful that this series has returned to us, and we can partake of it again, and see what a real artistic masterpiece is.
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