The anarchist poet Baal (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) wanders through the forests and the city, through the bourgeois parties and sexual relationships. His voracious appetite for love, alcohol, women and sex disrupts the lives of the people who cross his path, for better or for worse.

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In 1970, Baal shocked Germany in general and the wife of Bertolt Brecht (on whose play this film was based) in particular. Banned from release for over forty years, this movie by Volker Schlöndorff (Golden Palm and Oscar for Best Foreign Film for The Tin Drum) has been given a new life in 21st century cinemas. An opportunity to discover Rainer Werner Fassbinder at 24, before he became a famous filmmaker. Fassbinder devours the screen with his memorable face, and leads a series of scenes (sometimes sung) to strange and obscure places. With the advantage of hindsight, Baal is a visionary portrait of Fassbinder, the German film icon whose reputation and life were as profane as Ball’s. This is by far the main reason for (re)discovering this precious film.