Fassbinder,s exquisitely bleak, humourous and above all, profoundly humane 13 hour television epic finally makes it to dvd. Surely one of the best literary adaptations ever, in this case Alfred Doblin's passionate and depressed study of depression era Germany and its homicidal hero Franz Biberkopf. This fertile ground for the Third Reich is adumbrated beautifully by Fassbinder, aided by excellent performances from Gunther Lamprecht and Gottfried John. prepare yourself for the epilogue. One of the most intense, hallucinatory conflagrations of a soul ever attempted in cinema.