Secrets in "Dr. Caligari's Cabin"

Neva 2022-01-03 08:01:11

"There are ghosts in the world, and they are all around us." The first sentence of the film is the conversation between two men. One of them evokes a self-report and shifts the focus to his small town. The successive cases are complicated and confusing. The killing made him decide to find out the truth, and finally revealed the truth about Dr. Caligali.

In the narrative, the true murderer and the suspected suspect in the two murders are staggered, which exacerbates the blurring of the story. The identity of the director of the Dr. Caligari Psychiatric Hospital and the fact that everything is studying the spiritual world of sleepwalkers, seems to be the truth of all the fog. But in the end, "I understood his delusion. He thought I was the mysterious Caligari. Now I know how to treat him." This sentence seems to mean that everything is the "delusion" of the self-reporter. This open ending also set a precedent for future generations. Perhaps each of us is a "sleepwalker" or "delusion". This movie is like a prophecy. After the German social and economic depression after World War I, people's spiritual mood has not yet recovered, and the confused German people have indeed not escaped being bewitched by Hitler. fate. "When false is true, true is also false". This approach also provides a rare narrative carrier for our spiritual world to walk between the virtual and the reality.

Is the protagonist a delusional person who suffers from mental illness from beginning to end, or is he a detective who is "mad" at the end of the investigation? The end of the opening is not clear. At the beginning of the film, the heroine appeared. The facial expression of her staring eyes straight into the sky, and the protagonist's excitement staring at her and referring to her as a fiancé also echoed the "delusion" of the ending-the hero is a simple mental illness patient. The doctor’s final eyes and words also meant that the protagonist did experience some twists and turns, and watched a show with Alan—a friend was killed—to reveal the truth. In a series of incidents, he first pointed his suspicion to the doctor. Sticking to your own judgment, and when you like the same person with your friends, "let her choose, we are still good friends no matter what", this shows that the protagonist is firm, tolerant and open-minded.

The artistic technique of the film clearly represents expressionism. The scenes are extremely abstract, and the patterns and text on the walls have strong symbolic meanings. The distorted psychological world of people is magnified through bizarre art patterns and "freehand" text designs; The image of "high above the top" means something; in the character modeling, all mentally abnormal characters have "smoky makeup" like eye shadows and pale faces to express their inner fear. The last doctor took off his glasses but changed it. "Sick makeup" strives to illustrate delusion and reality through a normal look.


The spiritual extension of "Dr. Caligari's Cabin" is also profound. Most of the characters in the film ended up in the mental hospital. Is it an allusion to the pathological society and the confused human nature? Those who insist on one's own ideas are ultimately diagnosed as "delusions." So is it true that people who are unique are usually not tolerated by society? The "ghost" in the first sentence of the film does exist around us. It is our inner fear, and we are constantly fighting against it. Fighting bravely is also an inexhaustible driving force for survival.

Through these multi-angle snooping, I think this should be the secret in "Dr. Caligari's Cabin".

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Extended Reading
  • Tatyana 2022-03-24 09:02:10

    The 4.5 set is really nice, and a close-up of Caesar waking up in the dark. Last night I dreamed that I watched "The Hand of Orak", and when I saw the last scene of "Caligari", I was surprised that what I dreamed last night was actually Dr. Caligari named The Hand of Orak cabin. Like every nightmare I've ever had.

  • Reginald 2022-01-03 08:01:11

    The pioneering work of German expressionist film and the masterpiece of avant-garde film. The subtitles are bizarre and cover a lot of footage. All the scenes are studio shot. Stylized lighting effects are drawn, and the plot is grotesque. It reflects the fear of authority and the pessimistic mood of being unable to control fate that prevailed in German society at that time.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari quotes

  • Francis: You fools, this man is plotting our doom! We die at dawn! He is Caligari!

  • Francis: Jane, I love you - when will you marry me?

    Jane: We who are of noble blood may not follow the wishes of our hearts.