Berlin Alexanderplatz (Blu-Ray) Blu Ray – Peter Kollek, Franz Buchrieser

All 14 episodes from the drama series by renowned German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Adapted from an Alfred Döblin novel, the story centres around a man named Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht), a good natured and tender man who can be equally hard and violent when he is required to be. Fresh out of prison in 1920s Germany after a four-year stretch for disposing of his girlfriend, Biberkopf sets out to begin a new life for himself before meeting Reinhold (Gottfried John), a charismatic burglar, and falls under his spell. Very soon any hope Biberkopf had of going straight is short-lived. The episodes are: ‘The Punishment Begins’, ‘How Is One to Live If One Doesn’t Want to Die?’, ‘A Hammer Blow to the Head Can Injure the Soul’, ‘A Handful of People in the Depths of Silence’, ‘A Reaper With the Power of Our Lord’, ‘Love Has Its Price’, ‘Remember – An Oath Can Be Amputated’, ‘The Sun Warms the Skin, But Burns It Sometimes Too’, ‘About the Eternities Between the Many and the Few’, ‘Loneliness Tears Cracks of Madness Even in Walls’, ‘Knowledge Is Power and the Early Bird Catches the Worm’, ‘The Serpent in the Soul of the Serpent’, ‘The Outside and the Inside and the Secret Fear of the Secret’ and ‘My Dream of the Dream of Franz Biberkopf by Alfred Döblin, an Epilogue’.

Franz Biberkopf is an unforgettable man: good-natured, soft, tender, but also hard, violent and brutal. Released from prison following a four-year sentence for the manslaughter of his girlfriend, he plans to make a new start and a decent life for himself. But a chaotic, decadent Berlin of the 20’s is not the easiest place for an ex-con to go straight and work is hard to come by. When Franz becomes fascinated by Reinhold, a psychotic small-time crook, he is soon drawn back into a world he cannot escape. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: Limited edition deluxe box set (2000 copies only) ‘Fassbinder: Love Without Demands’ – The acclaimed 2015 feature length documentary by Christian Braad Thomsen An appreciation by writer and critic Tony Rayns Berlin Alexanderplatz – A Visual Essay by Daniel Bird ˜A Mega Movie and it’s Story’ documentary by Juliane Lorenz ‘The Restoration’ documentary including ˜before and after’ The Original Recaps Berlinale 2007 trailer 60 page perfect bound booklet featuring new essay by Cahiers Du Cinema’s Stephane du Mesnildot and archive material by Wim Wenders, Thomas Elsasser and Christian Braad Thomsen