Insights into German’s History on the example of the movie “Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler”
In the 20th century, Germany was troubled, because long term warfare, which made the German citizen exhausted, crumbling social system and the high costs of war put enormous pressure on the people. In spite of the above-mentioned situation and the horrible consequences of the two World Wars, in which Germany was the main participant, at that time, German cinema was developing, German films dominated in the Central Europe, and the number of companies and filmmakers was increasing. The German government realized the importance of film in terms of publicity, so that it has set up a special agency under the Ministry of the General Staff, which was responsible for promoting German film abroad. Therefore, analysis of a German movie of that time provides us insights into the German’s history of that time. I chose the movie Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler as it is related to the history of Germany after the World War I, endless inflation and people living in poverty.
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler is a great movie. The film perfectly describes Germany of the 20th century in Germany on the example of the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse, who used a variety of tactics, such as a good knowledge of psychology, hypnosis, card sharp, gambling to take a complete control over his victims. He claimed to be able to heal the post-war trauma. Among his assistants are a servant and makeup artist named Spoerri, who is suffering from cocaine addiction, the driver and killer George , stupid thug Pesch, leader of counterfeiters group Hawash (Charles Puffy), maid and assistant Fine, and prima variety "Folies Bergere"’s dancer Cara Carozza, who is in love with him. He deceived Carozza, and took from the hands of the millionaire’s son named Hull fifty thousand marks, winning it by gambling after using hypnosis. The police began to investigate and shadowed Mabuse, but they were not able to prevent him from killing Hull. The police surrounded Mabuse’s house and were ready to arrest him. Even though cunning Mabuse slipped away again by hiding in the basement, he ended up becoming a mental patient. The prosecutor von Wenk hunted Dr. Mabuse and finally brought him to the justice process. (Nochimson)
The film director Fritz Lang is a German expressionist master. He showed a superb skill to film a commercial movie, which incredibly portrayed the era: after World War I, Berlin was drowning into endless inflation, which caused the people living in poverty. This movie was a psychological thriller with unprecedented far-reaching effects. Fritz Lang once said: "Expressionism is just entertainment, but why now not everything is entertainment?" Yes, the artists have always been the most cynical group of people, no matter whether he lived in the early 20th century, or in the beginning of the 21st century. However, this sentence is quite correct, even though only in relation to the given film. Thus, the movie is an absolute opposite to the very modern Hollywood entertainment spirit (Tompkins).
Fritz Lang's movies have never been deprived of analysis and attention to humanity's ultimate destiny. (Tompkins) The film is not an exception. Each role in the movie represents all aspects of humanity. Prosecutor von Wenk stands for the human unyielding strength, always adhering to the side of justice. We may note that von Wenk was the only one in the movie, who does not fall under Dr. Mabuse’s hypnosis as well as the only one who eventually defeated the evil named Dr. Mabuse. I think that the director wanted to hint at this: as long as you are strong and unyielding like the prosecutor Wenk, and always adhere to justice, you are able to defeat the evil, present in your inner side. The Count Told represents the weak side of the human nature. He took the bait of Dr. Mabuse’s psychological tricks, and always had his own doubts, which eventually led him to be cheated in a poker game as well as to his self-murder. Countess Dusy Told represents an innocent beautiful woman, full of infinite curiosity. She is also a synonym for chastity. By the way, Gertrude Welcker, who played this role in the movie, always exudes by the charm of a woman. That is the most glamorous role in the movie. Dr. Mabuse certainly represents the most evil part of humanity, as his own interests are almost the evil (money, power, control over his victims), and he has also a strong power like a devil’s incarnation. I even think Fritz Lang created this character as a political metaphor and some kind of a reminder for the German people about of the time after the defeat in the World War I in order them to be careful with evil instigators, who manipulated the people, making them follow them and do evil things. Of course, I am referring to this post-war-type German underground political activists like Hitler, but not to Hitler himself, as the movie was released in 1922, while Hitler started riots in 1923. We can see in the movie how easily the protagonist manipulated people for his own use. Another important figure in the movie is his beloved Cara Carozza, who represents women’s blind love. To conceive the power of this love, it is only enough to read the following monologue: "Nobody knows who he is, he was there, he was alive, he is far higher than the city, he was the greatest man alive, and he always loved me! This love also symbolizes the post-war crisis as well, because at that time, the exhausted weak people were seeking for a strong personality, not wondering whether this person represents the good or evil. It is just like a people’s blind worship of Hitler, which we will see a little bit later!
The film is a masterpiece of the German expressionism. German Expressionist cinema is the genre of the twentieth century, which urged the people to explore their interior, and then to discover the social reality through personal features. Expressionist principle was used in the literature, theater and cinema, creating a new genre in those fields. Using absurd tactics, twists and turns in the plot, the expressionists accurately reflect the World War I and the state of the German people after that as well as conveyed that extreme panic apprehensive mood on the screen. Harmonization, distortion and exaggeration here have been the most common use. Such acting, setting and design in the movie were used to convey emotion and psychological state, not paying attention to the original meaning of images. It implies a deep philosophical meaning and high artistic involvement. In the first place, the film shows the impact of the post-war crisis on society. Social background of expressionism consists in the dilapidated cold state of human society after the defeat of Germany, the alienation of shape, when the German middle-class was dissatisfied with reality. The impact of the spirit of the times is closely interconnected with the libertarian spirit of humanity in the film, creating psychedelic, twisted and cold picture of world in the then Germany. (Kolar) Thus, we can single out three basic features if expressionism. Firstly, it is a focus on the image, which has a symbolic shape, composition and scenery, often patterned with a shape, which is similar to a tie in the formation of considerable expressive power of the lens. The image often abandons conventional form, through tilt inverted image, special camera angles, which are rarely used with conventional film, commonly used close-up of the characters and symbolic empty lens, in addition to the subjective lens, which are a common practice. Secondly, in terms of acting, expressionistic performances tend to be more exaggerated, basically giving up performing style, characteristic for realism, instead of showing rapid changes, dance-like movements, deformation or distortion of expression. Thirdly, the expressionist representative in their works, terror, disasters, crime is as most common themes. The content is absurd, sometimes has scattered structures, unexpected changes in circumstances (Kolar). So actually Expressionism is a product of history.
All in all, I have not seen a lot of German movies, but this one really moved me. I am willing to share my opinion on the movie to others: a German film is like a mirror that lights up our understanding of the history, reality and future. Perhaps, we can learn a lot from the movie, as its better understanding helps to conceive the history.
Work cited
Nochimson, Martha P. World on Film: An Introduction. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. Dir. Fritz Lang. 1922.
Tompkins, Mark. "Fritz Lang’s “Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler”." The Same Cinema Every Night. N.p., 07 May 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
Kolar. "German Expressionism: The World of Light and Shadow." - Movies List on MUBI. Mubi, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
