Robert Wiene became immortal after directing
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1923), the imperishable and referential piece of silent cinema, heritage of german expressionism, and certainly of world cinema. In that decade, the 20 of last century, the most fruitful years of this giant filmmaker, the versatility of the director is manifested, producing works as diverse as the aforementioned, in addition to
Raskolnikow (1923), and then, in that same year, the film that now occupies us. Wiene adapts, in a relatively free way, the life, passion and death of Jesus Christ, respecting most of the conventionalisms that we know, but naturally, adding something, his personal conception and filiation, to configure a film that, although it has not enjoyed as much diffusion as more mediatic works, does constitute a work of necessary viewing for the student or admirer of the work of this remarkable german director. Thus, we will see the Messiah, Christ, from his births, to his adolescence, observing the traditional Christian figures of his passion, his links with his mother, with Mary Magdalene, with his apostles, the treason that suffers from Judas Iscariot, his fall at the hands of Pontius Pilate, and of course, the final crucifixion with which it ends the earthly days. Attractive feature, of great visual strength and with extraordinary actors.
In a humble stable, crowned by a star in Bethlehem, an unusual baby has been born, Jesus Christ, the son of God, has been born, awakening great hullabaloo. The baby is then an adolescent, surrounded by men who listen, hear his teachings, while his mother Maria (Henny Porten) cares for him. The news of an infant that stands out powerfully among the Jews soon gets to the ears of fearsome Pontius Pilate (Werner Krauss), who repeatedly is referred about the influence and attention that awakens the young man, he receives the news with moderate concern. The adolescent Jesus becomes a man (Gregori Chmara), receives the washing of the feet of the prostitute María Magdalena (Asta Nielsen), and surrounds himself with his apostles. But the atmosphere begins to blur, Caiaphas the high priest (Emanuel Reicher) observes him, in addition to Judas Iscariot (Alexander Granach), who begins to suspect of Christ. The roman authorities have begun to see Jesus as very dangerous, and his last supper with the apostles takes place, who already fear the imminent. Judas betrays him, gives the fatal kiss, Christ, after a public trial where Barabbas is freed, captured by the executioners, Pilate and Caiaphas determine it; finally he is mistreated and humiliated in front of the whole town, which ends up crucifying him with the slogan INRI. Christ dies on the cross.
This remarkable work of silent cinema, like many other exercises of the same nature, over the years, has been subject to many changes, alterations, often not agreed with the author, and there have even been mutilations, as lamentable as arbitrary. The completely silent version is the original basis of this feature, completely silent, without music, or narrators, elements that were annexed years later in the modified version and renamed
Crown of Thorns, is an original base that has also suffered other modifications, to which I will refer in later lines. For this film, Wiene is now approaching the epic representation, without reaching the extreme of a mega production, but he delights us with his representations overflowing with abundant humans, many actors moving through large sets, in large stages, it is a great sample of the versatility of the filmmaker, which shows how capable he is of producing a film with some gargantuan dyes. Another almost indivisible and inevitable element that is usually seen in the expressionist works of Wiene is absent, it is left aside, and this is the resource of the superposition of frames, as well as any other visual trickery that were usually commonplace in the most memorable silent works of those years; all that customary visual package, which so much impact knew in its moment to produce, now yields to the realism that the picture implies, a realism in which linearity is not broken, the plain of montage. Yes, the master Wiene varies his style, his artistic expressionist vein now leaves space, his overwhelming and disturbing sets are left aside, his characteristically expressionist conceptions, however, retains some of the force of that current in the representation of some characters, of gloomy, raw and dark appearance.
In the section on acting, always a strong point in a film by Wiene, stands out, among a brilliant constellation, Gregori Chmara, who again, as in
Raskolnikow, is fundamental, capital in the film, with his expressions, with his histrionic records, very intense at times, which completely cut him off from any contemporary conventional interpretation of Jesus Christ, he is one of the most prominent actors of those years, the years of silent cinema, an actor that by the way came from a russian theater company of actors. It is evident that this formidable theatrical actor had strongly impacted Robert Wiene since his previous collaboration, as only months ago they worked on the aforementioned adaptation of the gigantic and classical work of Dostoevsky, and his powerful interpretation of the murderous student Raskolnikov was his ticket to become a favorite actor of Wiene for those years. The intensity that Chmara prints is extraordinary, out of the ordinary, makes him almost a hermetic element to everything external, as if a parallel world inhabits his interior, his face being the main vehicle of escape of all that world. Indeed, Gregori stands out, who at times seemed even immersed in a trance, disconnected from the rest, hermetic in his particular universe, definitely the main pillar of the film, who heads a constellation of movie stars of that time, an actor of character certainly. Great choice on the part of the director of his protagonist, in this film that, despite some variations, normal in any artistic work, and the most striking being the traitor Judas Iscariote, is a true version of the life of the son of the Christian god, it could not be otherwise. The film, by the way, ends with the death of Christ, the miracle of the resurrection is not portrayed.
I delve in the subject just mentioned, the most interesting element, at the level of characters in the film, is Judas Iscariot, the traitor, who in this version of the german betrays the messiah but not for the causes that Christian history teaches, not being the main reason the classic bag of money, but now the filmmaker dyes a certain political halo as the origin of that betrayal. A political halo that has been seen with greater or lesser vigor, depending on the critic who appreciates it. However, to a large extent Wiene respects the most iconoclastic Western Christian figures, we see Jesus surrounded by children, we see the traditional washing of feet to Christ by Mary Magdalene, the preference to liberate the sinner Barabbas before Christ, and of course, the inevitable figure of the last supper, sequences represented with all the solemnity of a silent film, and with all the visual force that this silent cinema giant always knew to generate. As for the structure and treatment of the story, it respects to a large extent the guidelines set by two other major titans of cinema, such as David Wark Griffith in
Intolerance (1916), and the danish Carl Theodor Dreyer with his
Leaves from Satan's Book (1920); the established staging is respected by filmmaker, but adds Wiene the details of his art, like the aforementioned human representations of some characters. As for the staging, the work done by the expressionist master is impeccable, his setting is impeccable, the costumes, the decorations, without excessive ornaments or mannerisms, but a simplicity that leads to a more intimate closeness to what is portrayed, and it contrasts with the reloading efforts of representation that can be seen in these days, so artificial and postiche that they end up eliminating a genuine approach to those days. It is the representation of Christian birth, passion and death, the tribulations of Christ on earth, and I think it is pertinent at this time to point out, however, that the film on which the present article is based is a reduced version of footage, inferior to that originally conceived, of more than one hour and forty minutes; in this reduced version, inferior in half an hour of duration, an effort is made to maintain the main edges and events that history contains. A sadly famous film anecdote more, but in the end, wether you have access to one or another version of the film, what you should do is appreciate that immortal filmmaker in action, giving a unique sample of his versatility, his ability as audiovisual creator of a wide range of possibilities. There are probably few who classify the film as the most accomplished by the director born in german, now polish lands, an enriching work to appreciate.
Robert Wiene became immortal after directing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1923), the imperishable and referential piece of silent cinema, heritage of german expressionism, and certainly of world cinema. In that decade, the 20 of last century, the most fruitful years of this giant filmmaker, the versatility of the director is manifested, producing works as diverse as the aforementioned, in addition to Raskolnikow (1923), and then, in that same year, the film that now occupies us. Wiene adapts, in a relatively free way, the life, passion and death of Jesus Christ, respecting most of the conventionalisms that we know, but naturally, adding something, his personal conception and filiation, to configure a film that, although it has not enjoyed as much diffusion as more mediatic works, does constitute a work of necessary viewing for the student or admirer of the work of this remarkable german director. Thus, we will see the Messiah, Christ, from his births, to his adolescence, observing the traditional Christian figures of his passion, his links with his mother, with Mary Magdalene, with his apostles, the treason that suffers from Judas Iscariot, his fall at the hands of Pontius Pilate, and of course, the final crucifixion with which it ends the earthly days. Attractive feature, of great visual strength and with extraordinary actors.
In a humble stable, crowned by a star in Bethlehem, an unusual baby has been born, Jesus Christ, the son of God, has been born, awakening great hullabaloo. The baby is then an adolescent, surrounded by men who listen, hear his teachings, while his mother Maria (Henny Porten) cares for him. The news of an infant that stands out powerfully among the Jews soon gets to the ears of fearsome Pontius Pilate (Werner Krauss), who repeatedly is referred about the influence and attention that awakens the young man, he receives the news with moderate concern. The adolescent Jesus becomes a man (Gregori Chmara), receives the washing of the feet of the prostitute María Magdalena (Asta Nielsen), and surrounds himself with his apostles. But the atmosphere begins to blur, Caiaphas the high priest (Emanuel Reicher) observes him, in addition to Judas Iscariot (Alexander Granach), who begins to suspect of Christ. The roman authorities have begun to see Jesus as very dangerous, and his last supper with the apostles takes place, who already fear the imminent. Judas betrays him, gives the fatal kiss, Christ, after a public trial where Barabbas is freed, captured by the executioners, Pilate and Caiaphas determine it; finally he is mistreated and humiliated in front of the whole town, which ends up crucifying him with the slogan INRI. Christ dies on the cross.
This remarkable work of silent cinema, like many other exercises of the same nature, over the years, has been subject to many changes, alterations, often not agreed with the author, and there have even been mutilations, as lamentable as arbitrary. The completely silent version is the original basis of this feature, completely silent, without music, or narrators, elements that were annexed years later in the modified version and renamed Crown of Thorns, is an original base that has also suffered other modifications, to which I will refer in later lines. For this film, Wiene is now approaching the epic representation, without reaching the extreme of a mega production, but he delights us with his representations overflowing with abundant humans, many actors moving through large sets, in large stages, it is a great sample of the versatility of the filmmaker, which shows how capable he is of producing a film with some gargantuan dyes. Another almost indivisible and inevitable element that is usually seen in the expressionist works of Wiene is absent, it is left aside, and this is the resource of the superposition of frames, as well as any other visual trickery that were usually commonplace in the most memorable silent works of those years; all that customary visual package, which so much impact knew in its moment to produce, now yields to the realism that the picture implies, a realism in which linearity is not broken, the plain of montage. Yes, the master Wiene varies his style, his artistic expressionist vein now leaves space, his overwhelming and disturbing sets are left aside, his characteristically expressionist conceptions, however, retains some of the force of that current in the representation of some characters, of gloomy, raw and dark appearance.
In the section on acting, always a strong point in a film by Wiene, stands out, among a brilliant constellation, Gregori Chmara, who again, as in Raskolnikow, is fundamental, capital in the film, with his expressions, with his histrionic records, very intense at times, which completely cut him off from any contemporary conventional interpretation of Jesus Christ, he is one of the most prominent actors of those years, the years of silent cinema, an actor that by the way came from a russian theater company of actors. It is evident that this formidable theatrical actor had strongly impacted Robert Wiene since his previous collaboration, as only months ago they worked on the aforementioned adaptation of the gigantic and classical work of Dostoevsky, and his powerful interpretation of the murderous student Raskolnikov was his ticket to become a favorite actor of Wiene for those years. The intensity that Chmara prints is extraordinary, out of the ordinary, makes him almost a hermetic element to everything external, as if a parallel world inhabits his interior, his face being the main vehicle of escape of all that world. Indeed, Gregori stands out, who at times seemed even immersed in a trance, disconnected from the rest, hermetic in his particular universe, definitely the main pillar of the film, who heads a constellation of movie stars of that time, an actor of character certainly. Great choice on the part of the director of his protagonist, in this film that, despite some variations, normal in any artistic work, and the most striking being the traitor Judas Iscariote, is a true version of the life of the son of the Christian god, it could not be otherwise. The film, by the way, ends with the death of Christ, the miracle of the resurrection is not portrayed.
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