The film was shot in only 14 days
The original German title "Angst essen Seele auf" is deliberately grammatically incorrect, translating literally as "Fear eat soul up." The correct German form would be "Angst isst die Seele auf." It is a direct reference to Ali's bad German. The line of dialogue he utters is simply "Fear eat soul up"
Ali refers to the difficulties Arab immigrants faced "since Munich." The story is set in Munich; however, Ali is using the shorthand for an event two years before the story occurs, when Munich hosted the Summer Olympic Games of 1972 and the terrorist group Black September murdered eleven members of the Israeli team.
Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was in a relationship with lead actor El Hedi ben Salem at the time of filming.
Included in the Toronto International Film Festival's Essential 100, movies every cinephile should see.
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By what name was Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) officially released in India in English?
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