Venice Classics Documentaries review - FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER (Von Caligari zu Hitler) by Rudiger Suchsland

What does cinema know that we don't know. What did cinema know in the Weimar Republic of the German roaring twenties about what tragedy was to strike upon it for most of the twentieth century? This and so much more is dealt with in the documentary From Caligari to Hitler by Rudiger Suchsland, presented in the Venice Classics section of the 71st Venice Film Festival.

The time of the Weimar Republic was a great period in the history of cinema. This was a time when the film industry in Germany flourished gloriously and many innovations were brought on. It was a time of great experimentation of narrative structures and technical advancements. But most of all, it was a time for acknowledgement as cinema as a form of art. From these times we remember the works of the likes of Fritz Lang and FW Murnau. This was a time which Suchsland narrows down from the classic feature The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the ascent to power of Hitler, passing by such celebrated titles as Metropolis, M, Asphalt and Nosferatu and the Blue Angel but also mentioning lesser known titles that are waiting to be rediscovered - out of these a particularly interesting omnibus film named People on Sunday that even involved the then unknown Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak and Fred Zinnemann.

This film draws inspiration from the film theory book by the same name by Siegfried Kracauer in 1947. More than being a celebration of the endless number of filmmaker that came out of this period in time, a lot of whom moved to Hollywood quite early on in the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, From Caligari to Hitler also considers the many facets or the socio-cultural atmosphere and psychological concerns that influences these films. Celluloid fascinations with brainwashing and mind control, the oppressed and underpayed working class on their one day of the week off, the rise of consumerism, the advancement of industry, a lack of belief in the integrity of authority. For instance, in M, the criminals are more succesful than the police force in capturing the criminal. This would later be echoed by the rise to power of the Nazi Party, the ultimate form of criminal idealism. But also, the popularities of Prussian heroes, satisfying the disenchanted German people's need to look back at the history of its roots and seeing an order of spectacle and the glory of aa victory in war - despite the fact that Prussians had been hated by Germans two generations before the Weimar Republic.

The film nears two hours at length but the theoretical observations about the cinema of its time. Unlike Mark Cousins' documentaries on cinema, this film moves at a quicker pace and probably doesn't allow you to take in all the info at an agreeable and meditative pace. This was no doubt due to the will to have the film wrap up at an agreeable time but still provide as complete a picture as possible. Around 40 films were referenced, and in the end it seems to be the perfect number to sum up the impact of the cinema of Weimar Republic. From Caligari to Hitler is a good documentary for all fans of early cinema that in the end also shows not only the importance of film archives but is also succesful in showing us just how much power cinema had, has and will probably always have.