Berlin Alexanderplatz

Francis is the only survivor of a boat that crossed the Mediterranean. He reaches Berlin and makes a promise: he will harm nobody again and will stay honest. He has no papers and no work. He labours on building sites without permission. Then he meets Reinhold; the man sells drugs, speaks politely and offers Francis a place. Francis refuses at first. Then he accepts. He loses an arm, finds a woman, takes another name, and the city pulls him down step by step. Reinhold is never far away. Burhan Qurbani directs and wrote the script with Martin Behnke. The film is adapted from the 1929 novel by Alfred Doblin. Welket Bungue, Albrecht Schuch, Jella Haase and Joachim Krol are in the cast. It is a German and Dutch co-production. The film screened in the main competition of the 70th Berlin Film Festival on 26 February 2020. The same novel had been filmed before by Rainer Werner Fassbinder as a fifteen hour series. The adaptation carries the novel's central character into present day Germany and into the question of migration. The film received eleven nominations at the German Film Awards. The matter it treats is keeping a promise; Francis tries to stay honest and never has what that would require. Reinhold, played by Albrecht Schuch, is the strongest figure in the film. The narrative is divided into parts and each opens with a title. It runs close to three hours and the pace is heavy. Its limit is length; the narrative is long, the form showy, and some passages repeat. Who it is for: viewers who like long form European drama and literary adaptation. Who it is not for: it is long, dark, and the ending bitter.