Kino immer anders
The story of Caligari centers on a doctor who hypnotizes a young man, showcasing him at the annual fair as the somnambulist Cesare and making him commit crimes during the night. For Siegfried Kracauer, the anticipation of what Germany would become in the following years and, in Caligari, the figure of the dictator as a conductor of hypnotized criminals.
Caligari, a primal example of German Expressionism, leaves to film culture a universal character, its first archetype of the obscure, cruel, tragic villain. To cinema, it leaves an essentially still expressive format. More than Robert Wiene, Caligari owes its style to the three expressionist painters who created the contorted, dark, unnatural set designs to which the actors and the story submitted. This simple story is preceded and followed by an explanation of the narration we have just witnessed, completely changing our understanding of the plot. It is no coincidence that this magnificent plot twist was suggested to the producer by none other than Fritz Lang.
Tiago Viegas Dias
