Entre Les Mur

The films Entre les Murs(The Class) and Angst Essen Seele Auf(Ali: Fear Eats the Soul) both address the insincerity of social conformity and the systemic failure which results in physical, mental, and intellectual suffering of those deemed to be outsiders. Within this system even the best intentioned actors take part in social violence against the Other. Both the teacher M. Marin, in Entre Les Murs, and Emmi, in Ali, exhibit the best of all possible intentions, yet they succumb to the the roles of oppressor and perpetrator of social violence. The immigrants are not passive victims in the process, both the students and Ali adopt different survival mechanisms — both of which fail. Ali adopts an agreeable passivity to his condition, always

This influenced his critical view of ‘the system’ and its overbearing influence on those within its reach. Ali:Fear Eats the Soul depicts its characters as nearly entirely subject to the arbitrary actions and perceptions of German society. Ali himself is pavlovian in his responses to outside stimulus and this is seen with remarkable clarity near the end of the film with his last dance with Emmi at the bar. Fassbinder’s anarchist sentiments may also have contributed to Ali’s passivity in the face of social violence. As an outsider himself Fassbinder’s personal perspective contributed to the strength of his film in capturing the struggles of an

While they outwardly rebel, where he had adopted a passive acceptance of his position, they to do little more than respond to systemic stimulus. The malcontents may feel that their rebellion grants them social agency, but this is shown to be illusionary as the students do little more than conform to their teachers’ expectations. The students are interactively passive in their resistance — they believe they are active in resisting but are actually passively complying with the systems expectations of them. This is exceptionally clear in the case of Solemon’s expulsion, he believes that through silence and noncompliance he is exercising his social-agency; but within the system he is on the well worn track of the dissident student. His teacher’s foresee and plan for is dispensary hearing, his expulsion is all but predetermined — not one hearing had concluded without one. It is the system itself, and not ones compliance or residence within it, that creates the