German and Russian Cinema

It has been an interesting two weeks of film screenings since starting back at the academy. We finished off our first week with the silent film Battleship Potemkin. I was interested in watching this film as I had never watched Russian cinema before so I thought that it would be a positive experience. We were told before watching the film that it often makes it to the top of the lists of the greatest ever films. However after watching the movie I have to say that I do not necessarily agree with this view. I found the narrative quite dull and unlike other silent films that I have watched recently I did miss the dialogue being present. I do appreciate the fact that this film was made along time ago and so the film may have been very successful and well made in 1925. However I do not think that most modern audiences would enjoy the film very much, the film seemed to move at a much slower place that modern audiences are used to and it bored me slightly. However I think for the time period when the film was creating the editing was very good and clearly the film has made an impact on generations as the Odessa Steps sequence is still replicated on television today. Overall although I did not enjoy Battleship Potemkin I was still able to appreciate it for what it really was, a successful piece of propaganda.

However my feelings about the 1922 film Nosferatu couldn’t be more different. I had watched this film when I was 16 and was looking forward to watching it again. I felt that this film was of a higher quality than Battleship Potemkin. The narrative kept me hooked throughout, I felt you got to know the characters quite well and it was interesting to see how the representation of Hutters wife Ellen changed throughout the film. At first it seemed as though Ellen was going to be a stereotypical female, she is shown playing with a kitten and holding flowers, she also acts in a passive way. However by the end of the end of the film Ellen is sacrificing herself to Nosferatu and is represented as the active female. I think that this is possibly a very modern representation seen as the film was made in 1922 when it was not as common to see woman taking control and being the active force on screen.

Another thing that enjoyed about the film is that it is visually very interesting to look at. The use of shadows and light and dark are very successful and I think that during several moments in the film shadows are used in a very sophisticated fashion in order to scare the audience. For example when Hutter is lying in bed in the castle the audience can see Nosferatu’s shadow lurking over his body. I think this fear of the unknown is far scarier than actually seeing the monster sucking the victim’s blood. I also think the appearance of Count Orlock would also scare a 1922 audience. For example they have given him a large nose and dark hair and eyebrows that draws similarities to a stereotypical Jewish persons appearance. This is important as it is aimed at a German audience and because of the war going on at the time. Another factor about Count Orlock that would put fear into the 1920’s audience is the fact that his costume is not something that the audience would be used to seeing, he is wearing a strange hat which makes him appear as though he is from another country, this would play off the audiences fear of immigration. Although I myself do not find Nosferatu to be a particularly scary film I can defiantly see why the 1920’s audience would be very scared by this film. Unlike Battleship Potemkin I do not miss the dialogue as I think that Nosferatu possesses strong iconic images that help to drive the film and keep the audience interested.