The Dryden will screen Götter der Pest (Gods of the Plague, R. W. Fassbinder, West Germany 1970, 91 min., 35mm, German w/subtitles) tonight at 8 p.m.

Franz (Harry Baer) has been released from jail and is looking for former acquaintances. First he finds Joanna (Hanna Schygulla), who sings in a bar. She loves him and wants to help. But Franz senses that behind this love lingers a claim of ownership that would take away the last bit of freedom he has. Franz also does not want to be kept by Joanna. He states: "There must be some money!" He abandons Joanna. Then he meets Margarethe (Margarethe von Trotta). She, too, is ready to help and, more importantly, less possessive in her love. This is the second part of Fassbinder's highly stylized loose trilogy of gangster pictures, considered by the filmmaker to be the fifth best picture he ever made.

[source: Dryden website, 2015-May-18]