Classic German Film: Stories of suffering and redemption on Screen

Description

This selection of films focuses on the socio-political currents of post–World War I Germany. Unlike the celebrations that underpinned so many Soviet depictions of the post-revolutionary scene, these German films can be seen as weapons in ongoing struggles, where ideologies are expressed by powerful stories that become parables of suffering and redemption.

While the leftist visions of the earlier films give way to the path toward Hitler and Nazism, it is striking to see the same elements across many films: the suffering of the urban working class, the crushing burdens faced by men and women who saw no future before them, and the children who figured as symbols of despair rather than hope.

Resolutions, similarly, come through a mixture of ideological arguments and the fanfare of mass events such as camps, rallies, and protests, where the tragedies of the individual could be lost in the action and hope of the many.

Two of the movies that this programme will screen–Mother Krause’s Journey to Happiness and Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?–are among the 100 Most Significant German Films, as chosen by the 1995 German Federation of Cinémathèques.