The Life Story of Baal (1978)

German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht never produced a fully revised version of Baal, his first play (1918), and so the text can be considered fair game for further work. Director Edward Bennett hasn't simply filmed this version of the play, he has risen to the challenge of producing a reading of it. Brecht at one level retains sympathy for Baal; but Bennett never does. He reformulates the play as a powerful critique of the notion of the artist as a kind of social outlaw, and resolves the sexual, moral and political issues into urgent, provocative questions!