CALİGARİ’DEN HİTLER’E

FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER: GERMAN CINEMA IN THE AGE OF THE MASSES (VON CALIGARI ZU HITLER: DAS DEUTSCHE KINO IM ZEITALTER DER MASSEN), 2014
Germany | DCP, Color, 119 | English, German
Director: Rüdiger Suchsland
Participants: Fatih Akın, Volker Schlöndorff, Elisabeth Bronhofen, Thomas Elsaesser

Rüdiger Suchsland traces the history of German cinema during the period of the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933. Throughout the film, Suchsland follows in the footsteps of Siegfried Kracauer’s seminal work, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film. The period is very active and brutal, and carries the traces of political conflict, economic crisis and cultural splendor. Aesthetic foundations and genres of world cinema were developed during this very important period of German cinema. Many directors of the Weimar period are still legendary today; stars like Marlene Dietrich, Louise Brooks and Emil Jannings have not been forgotten. Building a narrative through Fritz Lang’s films, Suchsland examines how the fears and desires of the people are mirrored in these works. And, he tries to find out whether these works can guide us with respect to the developments regarding Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.