Framing in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

As we discussed in class, the framing in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul almost entirely contains the characters in a confined space. One of my favorite instances of this is when Emmi and Ali are waiting for their order to come at the restaurant where “Hitler used to eat.”

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Restaurant

After one of the most uncomfortable waiter-and-diner scenes imaginable, the camera framing moves from medium close-up to a long-shot. Emmi and Ali are very small, and they are dwarfed by the dining room’s structure. I see this as a way of expressing the insurmountable social circumstances that Emmi and Ali are going to face after their wedding. This is not going to be a socially sanctioned relationship. The subsequent scene reinforces this. Emmi calls her children to announce her matrimony, to which they react with utter disgust and contempt.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Family

Do you recall any other scenes where the framing or staging expresses the difficulty of Emmi and Ali’s situation?

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.