El Hedi ben Salem gives Ali a quiet gravity that makes the romance in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul credible despite its emphatic staging. His small filmography offers little else on that scale; this performance is enough to recommend him.
Fi1m perspective
In Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), El Hedi ben Salem gives the younger man a seriousness that matters as much as the tenderness. Brigitte Mira’s Emmi wants companionship, and he makes Ali seem more than someone brought in to provide it. We were moved by how credible their attraction remains when the spare framing keeps insisting on their isolation. This is quiet acting, and it gives the romance much of its force.
Most of his screen work consisted of small parts for Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972), his character is identified simply as the Arab; in the television series World on a Wire (1973), he plays a bodyguard. The lead in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was the exception, rather than the beginning of a succession of larger roles. By Fox and His Friends (1975), he was again making a small appearance.
What works is the lack of fuss in his acting. Ali is a Moroccan mechanic facing prejudice, but ben Salem gives him enough weight that we do not watch him merely as an example of mistreatment. Mira’s directness about Emmi’s need for affection helps: there is no need for either actor to make the desire for company seem exceptional. Their restraint lets the cruelty around them register without asking us to admire how much acting it takes.
There is a practical qualification when discussing his performances: Wolfgang Hess frequently dubbed his dialogue. We should not attribute every vocal effect to ben Salem, or pretend that these films offer an extensive record of what he could do with a speaking part. The understated physical presence in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is still his, and it matters.
The direction can be less restrained, and the staging in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul sometimes makes the couple’s isolation over-explicit. Ben Salem and Mira keep the affection believable through that insistence. Seek it out for them, with the warning that the director is not always content to let his actors make the point.
Biography
El Hedi ben Salem was a Moroccan actor. He appeared in several films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder between 1971 and 1975.
His best-known role was as Ali in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974). He also appeared in The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972), World on a Wire (1973), Tenderness of the Wolves (1973), Martha (1974) and Fox and His Friends (1975).
Fassbinder dedicated his film Querelle (1982) to Salem. A documentary about Salem's life, My Name Is Not Ali, was released in 2012.
