Watching Berlin Alexanderplatz is an ordeal- a glorious ordeal. In this modern world most people find it astonishing to say that you are going to watch a 15 hour movie something I find quite strange given the notion of watching two seasons of Breaking Bad over a three day period. Thank you Netflix. In fact Berlin Alexanderplatz was adapted for German Television. This is a gem of a section from Criterion Collection, which is no surprise. I was on edge throughout the film. The story of the convict, Franz Biberkopf who is released from a German prison after only serving a four years for murdering is his girlfriend. Pre war Germany; go figure. As he tries to put his life back together, yet finds in too difficult to avoid booze, broads and bullets, and eventually sinks into depraved criminal behaviors. The acting is superb. I especially enjoyed Gottfried John's wonderfully sinister and studdering Reinhold Hoffman (This maybe in part due to my love for villains) and Hanna Schygulla's Savvy and Exciting Eva. This movie enraptured me from it's prostitution alley to the Surrealist sequences of the episode My Dream of the Dream of Franz Biberkopf by Alfred Döblin, An Epilogue. While not planning to return to Berlin Alexanderplatz in the near future, I'm glad I made the journey. It's a hauntingly detailed and explicit depiction of pre-facist Germany. A fifteen hour film made in 150 days- Amazing!
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