The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the oldest film I've ever watched, and honestly it's a hell of an opener for this project. In many ways this feels more like a stage play than what we in the current day would associate with film as a medium; the sets and framing are are much more static than modern moviegoers are used to, the performances and makeup melodramatic and loud to make up for the viewer's inability to hear the actor's words spoken aloud. Despite this the film is undeniably forward-thinking, stylistically, technically, and in some ways, thematically. Much ink has already been spilled on discussions of German Expressionism as one of the earliest visible movements in the fledgling medium of film, and for good reason. The influences of these films can be felt all the way to the modern day, in which entire niche subcultures have sprung up around the likes of Tim Burton and My Chemical Romance, who took very visible cues from these films and their progeny. You can draw a straight line from Cesare to Gerard Way, from these looming, gloomy, twisted sets to the architecture of Halloweentown, from German Expressionism to emo and scene and goth. Even thematically, Cabinet displays a strong preoccupation with mental illness and the industries built around its treatment, with the authority figures into whose care the mentally ill are placed, and with the ways in which said authority figures are able to wield their position – and the perception of doubt thrown upon their wards – to shrug off any accusations of misconduct or abuse.
The film follows the exploits of Cesare, a somnambulist – that's to say, sleepwalker – who is being exhibited by the titular Dr. Caligari. Caligari can rouse Cesare at will, and order him around, and even has him tell fortunes for the crowd. Over the course of the film, as characters wander through lopsided and cavernous sets and investigate strange happenings, it becomes clear that Caligari has Cesare fully under his thrall, and is directing him to commit murders in the night. The plot is plenty intriguing as it progresses, but for my money the true appeal of this film lies in its presentation. The heightened, dramatic sets, interesting iris effects on the camerawork on the way into and out of scenes, and exaggerated character designs are all an absolute delight; In particular I'm fond of how Caligari looks as comically evil as they could possibly make the actor appear on screen. We're operating on a pretty stringent economy of storytelling here; when every frame of film costs good money, you really want the audience to be able to tell immediately that a character is the villain, unless you have a really good reason to hold back that information.
Mind you, the film still does have some really interesting twists up its sleeve; as our main characters investigate the circumstances of Caligari and Cesare, they find themselves following the good doctor back to an asylum, where they discover that he's the director. His name isn't actually Caligari, either; the asylum director got the idea for this showmanly persona, and the cabinet containing the somnambulist, from a book describing a similar case. So intrigued was he by this story that he found himself becoming obsessed with the idea of becoming this Dr. Caligari, memorably illustrated in a scene where he wanders home, accosted on all sides by the animated words "I must become Dr. Caligari!" appearing across various features of the frame. It's clear that the doctor himself is afflicted with some kind of mania, far from the reserved, wise, and professional persona he presents when running his establishment.
It's honestly a shock how much of what's going on here feels very much of a piece with more contemporary pop culture, both aesthetically and in terms of the way it regards social authority with an obvious measure of suspicion. These things are currently seen as indicative of a very adolescent mindset, but they've been around for well over a hundred years and aren't likely to go away. As long as these sorts of hierarchies exist, they'll carry the potential for abuse, and as long as authority figures can abuse those underneath them, they'll be subject to scrutiny, often through the lens of aesthetically dark and nonconformist outsider art. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a wonderful piece of that history, and gets a strong recommendation from me.
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