I don't know if many things would have changed since then, but probably they have since Hamas's party came into power. Many Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip support Hamas because it helps the poor, runs schools, and has a say in the Palestinian government.

Mahmoud was one of these people. At the beginning of the film, Mahmoud had very restrictive opinions about Israelis. He said things like "It is okay if the soldiers (terrorists) kill women and children because then at least there will be no more Israelis left". Harsh statements like this were common to Palestinian children. Mainly to Mahmoud, every Jew was like an Israeli.

B.Z. helped him understand that not all Jews are what he thinks. At the end, Mahmoud says that they should take some steps towards peace. This is a big change from his first opinion. For Moishe, it is the complete opposite. Moishe doesn't want to meet any Palestinians. At the beginning, he thinks that "it's okay if the Israeli soldiers miss at the shooting range, they might hit an Arab".

At the end he says that adults should talk to each other to make peace, but he is not the one to do that. Shlomo's opinion basically stays the same throughout the movie. The burping scene has some significance because it is when Shlomo and a Palestinian boy are friendly with each other. Shlomo thinks that there should be peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but the children shouldn't be friends. His opinion basically stays the same until the end of the movie.

Sanabel is passive all along the movie. The Israelis had put her father into prison for he was supporting Hamas. Even though she says that she hates what the Israelis did to her father, she really says it in a compassionate tone, as if she cares about the Holocaust. Her opinion at the end is that Palestinian and Israeli people should have peace and meet with each other. She thinks that even the children should do that, meet and connect.

Faraj hates Israelis. When he was younger he had experienced the death of a friend by an Israeli gun during an Intifada. His grandmother brings him to the spot of his old house, before his family was deported to the refugee camp. This burns anger in him to see that the Israelis knocked down their houses and didn't even do anything with the land. His meeting with Yarko and Daniel changes things. In the end he also believes that Palestinians and Israelis need to connect for there to be peace. He even calls some Israelis to have friendly conversations.

Yarko and Daniel are both nonreligious Jews. They are scared of religious Jews, "especially the one with the beard". They both are kind of passive, and don't care about the Palestinians. They are more focused on sports and other things. When they meet Faraj, they realize they aren't much different because they both like sports.

At the end, they say that they weren't able to return any of Faraj's calls because it would really be pointless. They think that they need to focus more on sports and other things than Palestinians. Basically, all the children had a big experience when they met B.Z. Most of them changed their opinion, but some of them didn't. I think that Palestinians and Israelis should have total peace, and there should be no terrorist or army attacks. That way, they will have peace.

Fear Eats the Soul is the story of Emmi (Brigitte Mira), a German widow who seeks refuge from rain one evening by ducking into a bar. Once inside, she is asked to dance by a man who is called “Ali” (El Hedi ben Salem), a Moroccan immigrant worker 20 years younger than her whose real name is never revealed. The two become friends and soon get married. The rest of the film is about the adversity the couple faces, from both internal and external forces. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is ultimately a noteworthy, great film. Fassbender's portrayal of a relationship based less on genuine love than on desperation, which survives due to the determination of its members to persevere, is convincing, even in its obviously contrived moments.

The level of realism is actually reinforced by the fictional love Emmi and Ali convince themselves exists between them, and the disapproval of the characters outside of the relationship is more than believable. Fassbinder's style of direction and filming techniques emphasize all of the right moments to play on the audience's emotions. A combination of the plot, universal themes, direction, and manipulation of character make this film a good one.

Fear Eats the Soul is a tale told in almost snapshot-like scenes-from Emmi's entrance of the bar, to the scene in which she tells Ali to “get used to German food,” to the part where Emmi is alienated by her friends at work. The plot pieces together the moments that truly impact this relationship between two entirely different people; it shows how unfair both Emmi and Ali can be, and how each is wounded by the words and actions of others. The concept of idealization is significant throughout the film, as the relationship between Ali and Emmi is based on little more than a chance interaction and the simple friendship that evolves over the course of one night. In their loneliness and desperation to find companionship in what seems to each a cruel environment-Emmi's view due to the loss of her husband and distance of her children, Ali's due to a tremendous sense of displacement and a lack of acceptance in German society-the characters construct for themselves a delicate but enduring relationship.

In one scene, Ali brings home his wages for the week, and Emmi fantasizes over their good fortune, exclaiming, “We'll be rich, Ali! And we'll buy ourselves a little piece of heaven.” Ali replies with a deadpan, “Why heaven?” to which Emmi sweetly says, “Oh. Just a fancy of mine.” Emmi's idealism is the stronger of the two, but both believe enough to make a nonsensical relation seem plausible. Their connection is one in which all is forgiven, as is portrayed just when the situation seems irreparable. It is made apparent that there will be no reconciliation between the two, after Ali takes to sleeping with the barmaid (because she cooks him the couscous he is denied by his wife).

Just as the audience feels certain that the two characters have been separated and reunion is impossible, Emmi returns to the bar to reenact the scene of her meeting with Ali. He plays along, repeating his movements to an exact degree, asking her to dance once more. Once the two are together again, Emmi delivers the moral of the story-that nothing matters beyond the two being good to each other. The ending rather fizzles out, with Ali collapsing and being taken to the hospital for an ulcer in his stomach that has erupted. Beyond this, though, the film places on display the truth of humanity by showing the tenderness between two people who would normally never even interact on a basic level.

Fassbender's directorial techniques lend a hand to the fairy tale aspects of the film, as well. His portrayal of so strained a relationship is one only he could achieve. In a situation where each partner involved brings to the table an issue of which he is somewhat ashamed, due to the condition of their society-Ali his status as a foreigner, Emmi her age-it would have been easy to make one monstrous while virtually ignoring the other, but Fassbinder treats both with a graceful and appropriate magnitude. He does not allow one to take center stage without immediately following it with the other-there is a constant duet, so far as the conflicts are concerned. In each problem, though, the characters are shown to suffer, both together and separately. Fassbinder's most effective shots, so far as employing symbolism to convey the innerworkings of the characters goes, are those in which Emmi and Ali each feel isolated.

Making use of framework, Fassbinder places characters in doorways or windows, transmitting to the audience the idea that this person is being outlined physically; the action of standing solitary in a doorframe or sitting alone on a staircase is like a neon sign announcing the severity of the isolation one is feeling. In this same vein, Fassbinder exercises unrealistic scenes in which a character or couple of characters appear to be the only people for miles. The restaurant Emmi and Ali dine in after being married appears to be completely empty, excepting the couple and the waiter who takes their order. Nearer to the end of the film, the pair is seen sitting on the terrace of a café, which is crowded with empty tables and chairs, while the only other people actually present are the wait staff, who stand meters off, staring and whispering at the oddity they see. This technique adds to the concept that the couple is isolated by society and there is a vast distance between their relationship and the mainstream.

Along with this use of scenery as symbolism, Fassbinder utilizes a technique that is the exact opposite of the standard: the extended shot. The durations of several shots cause the audience to feel a level of discomfort, even pain, that is uncommon in cinema. Fassbinder brings a level of reality to Fear Eats the Soul by making use of these involved, stretched and strained scenes, as the degree of “awkward” felt by the audience, due to the technique, is relative to that of the character being held in frame, due to the situation within the plot. Rather than adding to the drama of the moments in question, these drawn out shots relieve some of the weight of the scenes in question by forcing the audience to get involved and figure out why these silent shots are significant.

Even the level of “awkward” achieved by Fassbinder's extended shots would be lesser if the casting were not so realistic. The characters come to life through their imperfections-the bags under their eyes and extra padding around their midsections bring as much to the film as any technique employed in the writing or directing. Were the actors all beautiful model types, the story would hold much less significance for the audience. This physical normalcy is necessary, as the movements made by the characters are deliberate to an artificial degree. In some moments, people start, stop, and stutter in unnatural, almost robotic ways.

This sort of stylization forces the reader to back out of the film, as such actions cause the situation to seem over-dramatized, theatrical even. Fassbinder uses this direction intentionally, as the audience, after pulling away from the story, finds that they are still emotionally connected to the events and characters, even though the stylization seems inauthentic. The conditioning we, as an audience, receive from modern films tells us that action is absolutely vital and that awkward moments are to be avoided at all costs. Fassbinder, on the other hand, insists that silence, a sense of portraiture, and a level of discomfort are all useful tools that should be exercised to teach the audience a lesson.

Through his usage of plot, universal themes, directorial technique, and manipulation of character, Rainer Werner Fassbinder creates a noteworthy film with Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. The lessons learned by the audience in this film extend to the world today, despite it's being made in 1973-from Fassbinder's art, one can learn of risk, overcoming adversity, and, most importantly, the importance of compassion in life.