DVD
Baal
Call Number
- DVD FOREIGN (CEN)
Edition
Director-approved DVD special edition.
Languages
In German, with English subtitles.
Performers
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Sigi Graue, Margarethe von Trotta, Marian Seidowsky.
Publication Information
[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2018]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (84 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (color illustrations ; 19 cm.)
Audience
Not rated.
Summary
Volker 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 himself cast out from bourgeois society 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 of Fassbinder's troupe of theater actors as well as Margarethe von Trotta, BAAL demonstrates the uncompromising nature of Schlöndorff's vision and forged a path for New German Cinema.
Notes
Title from container.
Based on the play by Bertolt Brecht.
Originally produced for German television in 1970.
Special features: New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Volker Schlöndorff ; Interviews from 1973 and 2015 with Schlöndorff ; new conversation between Ethan Hawke and playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman about the play and adaptation ; new interviews with actor and filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta ; new interview with film historian Eric Rentschler ; new English subtitle translation.