Movies Like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a 1974 drama, romance film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder with a MovieMagicScore of 7.7/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Short Sharp Shock and The State I Am In.

Drama Romance

Short Sharp Shock

1998

Gabriel, Bobby and Costa are old friends from Altona, a multicultural hood in Hamburg. Just out of prison, Gabriel wants to turn his back on crime, but the others continue to operate as petty criminals. Friendships are tested as the trio navigate a dark world of mafia bosses and deals gone wrong.

6.6

MagicScore

The State I Am In

2001

Clara and Hans are left-wing terrorists who have been sought by police for almost fifteen years. Their increasingly rebellious daughter Jeanne begins to pose a threat to their security when she falls in love with a boy she meets on the beach.

6.8

MagicScore

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

2002

The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.

6.5

MagicScore

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

2008

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

8.0

MagicScore

The Tin Drum

1979

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

6.9

MagicScore

The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick

1975

Goalkeeper Josef Bloch is sent off after committing a foul during an away game. This causes him to lose his bearings, and he wanders aimlessly through the city streets and spends the night with the box-office attendant of a movie theatre.

5.9

MagicScore

Harold and Maude

1971

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.

7.6

MagicScore

The Piano Teacher

2001

Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

7.3

MagicScore

Queen of Hearts

2019

Anne, a brilliant and dedicated advocacy lawyer specialising in society’s most vulnerable, children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture-perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events destined to destroy her world.

6.9

MagicScore

#10

Michael Jackson: HIStory World Tour - Live in Munich

1997

The King of Pop rocks the Olympic Stadium in Munich, Germany during his concerts on June 4th and 6th, 1997, as part of the HIStory World Tour.

8.1

MagicScore

#11

The Reader

2008

The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.

7.5

MagicScore

#12

Babygirl

2024

A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.

5.7

MagicScore

#13

The American Friend

1977

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

7.1

MagicScore

#14

The Bridges of Madison County

1995

Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.

7.7

MagicScore

#15

Monster's Ball

2001

A prison guard begins a tentative romance with the unsuspecting widow of a man whose execution he presided over.

6.8

MagicScore

#16

Sleepless in Seattle

1993

After the death of his mother, a young boy calls a radio station in an attempt to set his father up on a date. Talking about his father’s loneliness soon leads to a meeting with a young female journalist, who has flown to Seattle to write a story about the boy and his father.

6.7

MagicScore

#17

Magnolia

1999

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

7.7

MagicScore

#18

Rebel Without a Cause

1955

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

7.5

MagicScore

#19

Dodsworth

1936

A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.

7.1

MagicScore

#20

Empire of Passion

1978

In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.

6.9

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul?

The top films similar to Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by MovieMagicScore are Short Sharp Shock (6.6), The State I Am In (6.8), Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (6.5). Each shares drama/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Ali: Fear Eats the Soul worth watching?

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.7/10 from 435 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Ali: Fear Eats the Soul?

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) is a drama, romance film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, starring Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Irm Hermann.

Where can I find more recommendations like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Short Sharp Shock Movies like The State I Am In Movies like Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself Movies like Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father Movies like The Tin Drum Movies like The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick

About movies like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

This ranked list pairs Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), a drama and romance film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Brigitte Mira take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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