Baal (1970) on Blu-ray

Actor: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Sigi Graue, Margarethe von Trotta
Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Genre: Drama
Year: 1970
Studio: Criterion Collection
Length: 84
Released: 03/20/18
Rating: Not Rated (MPAA Rating)
Format: Blu-ray
Misc/Special Features: NTSC, Full Screen, DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES - New, restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Volker Schlöndorff, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack - Interviews from 1973 and 2015 with Schlöndorff - New conversation between actor Ethan Hawke and playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman about the play and adaptation - New interview with actor and filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta - New interview with film historian Eric Rentschler - New English subtitle translation - PLUS: An essay by critic Dennis Lim
Language: English
Subtitles : Yes

DESCRIPTION:

Volker Schlndorff 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, Schlndorff 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 Schlndorff's vision and forged a path for New German Cinema.