Response Essay: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I love film. One of my favorite things to do is just sit and talk about movies that I like or that I have seen. I feel like a have a unique vantage point in comparison to other people my age, as I tend to look at the artistic setup of the shot. That being said, I still have yet to see a lot of silent films, and I have never seen a German Expressionist film, or any film that is similar to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Watching this movie was really interesting, to say the least. On one hand, some of the visuals were really striking, but on the other hand, the format of a silent movie is not one that has necessarily aged well. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is no exception. Perhaps it’s just because I’m used to the newer, fast-paced, crisper sounds and visuals, but the first few minutes were a little hard to get into. But once the movie hit the ten-minute mark, the slightly-off visuals, distorted sound, and eerie faster-paced movements actually made the film seem creepier, possibly more creepy than originally intended.

As for the visuals in the film, my first thoughts were that the movie took place in a black-and-white version of Whoville. I really liked the visuals though. The jagged lines of the set, as well as the crazy offset between black and white really added to the surreal feel of the movie, especially considering that it all takes place in the head of Francis really tie in well together with the tone the movie is going for.

One of the biggest parallels that critics draw with this movie is how it treats figures of authority and power, and how the film is a commentary to how the militaristic ideals of WWI-era German leaders were such a toxic influence on the German people. It also shows effect of Germany’s thoughts towards authority: not just that it was bad, but also that it was malevolent, and considering how Dr. Caligari “wins” in the end, possibly even suggests that the force of the government was all-too powerful, even unstoppable.

In regards to most other aspects of the movie, I really don’t have too much to compare the film too. As I stated before, I really don’t have a whole lot of experience with movies from the silent era, so while I think that this is a great example of a movie from its time, most of that comes from reading about how highly it was and still is praised as such a wonderful movie. The music, while good, was not as particularly memorable as the music in, say, Star Wars. It was simple, yet effective. The cinematography was pretty subpar, but film at this time was still a very new medium, and a lot of things we take for granted in a film today were not even thought of at this time.

Overall, I did really enjoy the film. It was a fun story, sort of spooky, and while very dated, I can still see the educational value of this film, both in terms of studying film and studying German history. I do see it having more use in film studying, as a lot of fun techniques used in film today are definitely in use here, and history classes rarely spend a lot of time deconstructing art, literature, or film. Either way, it was a worthwhile watch, and while I don’t feel like it taught me anything particularly about the time or even expressionism, it got me curious enough to check out expressionism more as a whole anyway, so it gets another check in the “win” column for me.