Berlin Alexanderplatz (Blu-ray) Criterion Ltd

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s controversial, fifteen-hour Berlin Alexanderplatz, based on Alfred Döblin’s great modernist novel, was the crowning achievement of a prolific director who, at age thirty-four, had already made over thirty films. Fassbinder’s immersive epic follows the hulking, childlike ex-convict Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he attempts to “become an honest soul” amid the corrosive urban landscape of Weimar-era Germany. With equal parts cynicism and humanity, Fassbinder details a mammoth portrait of a common man struggling to survive in a viciously uncommon time.

Berlin Alexanderplatz was shot at a speed of 25 frames per second. Due to technical discrepancies between PAL and NTSC standards, the film is presented on the DVD edition at a slightly slower speed. On the Blu-ray edition, however, it was possible to present the film at its original speed. This accounts for the difference in run time between the two editions.