The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 expressionist German horror film directed by Robert Wiene. This film tells the story of a man with a shocking twist at the end. This movie encompasses the expressionist movement throughout Germany in the 1920’s. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari displays the dangers of absolute control through an expressionist style.
The film begins with the main character, Francis, talking to an unknown man on a bench where he begins to tell the man his “sad” story. The story opens with the mysterious Dr. Caligari obtaining a permit from a rude town clerk for his show involving him and a somnambulist named Cesare. The clerk is later found dead in his bed that night. The next morning Francis and his best friend, Alan, visit
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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a great example of this because of the major plot twist and distorted reality present throughout. There are huge and magnified forms of expressionism and unreal character throughout the film in order to tell the story (Walker 617). Kracauer,, Janowitz, and Mayer believe the movie depicts the madness in inherent authority. They believe the ending shows that reason trumps the unreasonable power of Dr. Caligari when his authority is symbolically abolished (Cardullo 28). Film critics have believed that this movie represented the negatives of absolute authority by presenting Dr. Caligari, a man with complete authority over Cesare, as demonic and psychotic. This applies to the Weimar Era because of all of the political strife throughout this time and so many figures vying for power. I would argue that this movie does not show longing for an absolute authority like Adolf Hitler, but rather the downsides of an authority figure like this. Although this was before the time of the rise of the Nazi party, the evil Dr. Caligari could be likened to Adolf Hitler. Where Caligari controlled Cesare through hypnotism, Hitler controlled subordinates through persuasion and propaganda.
In conclusion, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari uses expressionism to deliver a message about the madness of total authority. Through the