Berlin, Alexanderplatz, originally broadcast in 1980, is a 14-part West-German television miniseries, set in 1920s’ Berlin and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from Alfred Döblin's 1929 novel of the same name. It has become one of the symbols of 20th-century cinema and is seen by many as Fassbinder’s greatest work. The film epic was originally made for television, and went through digital restoration in 2006.

The plot 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.

Free online screening in German with English subtitles.

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