Katzelmacher

The second film in the Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder is Katzelmacher (1969), the title is a derogatory Bavarian word for a foreigner, especially one from a Mediterranean country. In this film Fassbinder examines the lingering resentment and exploitation of the vast number of guest workers that poured into Germany during the economic miracle of the 50s. However, it takes a while for him to get to that part of the film the beginning of the film establishes the characters—Marie (Hanna Schygulla) and her brooding criminal boyfriend, Erich (Hans Hirschmüller); Elisabeth (Irm Hermann), her deadbeat live-in lover, Peter (Peter Moland); Paul (Rudolf Waldemar Brem) and his clingy girlfriend, Helga (Lilith Ungerer); Rosy (Elga Sorbas), who turns to prostitution, ultimately charging even her boyfriend, Franz (Harry Baer), for sex—in run  down apartments, a beer hall, and on the sidewalk, often in pairs, bickering with one another, and taking advantage of each other. Then Jorgos (Fassbinder), a taciturn Greek immigrant who moves into Elisabeth’s flat, arrives. He threatens the locals simply by being different, not German. Immediately rumors fly about his sexual prowess and Communist sympathies; aggression against him builds to an inevitable attack. The film has a cold austere style with static frames and long takes. It is no surprise that I has been adapted from a play written by Fassbinder. I find the content of his films intriguing so far, but find the cinematic style a bit primitive.