Destiny (1921) - Fritz Lang

This is a film that was able to leave imperishable imprint in many major names in the history of cinema, both actors and filmmakers felt impacted by the visual force and history properly portrayed by the master Fritz Lang, master among cinema masters. Working already with his wife and at the same time collaborator, his screenwriter and spouse Thea von Harbou, immerses us in a metaphysical story, which would serve as reference for later giants, passing from Luis Buñuel, who said that with this film he completely defined his desire to be filmmaker, the prodigious Ingmar Bergman was also overwhelmed by the force of the film, and even Douglas Fairbanks literally delayed the release of this movie to copy some special effects on a picture of his own. Enormous the background of a film, the work of an enormous director, in which he narrates the metaphysical story of a young woman, whose fiance suddenly disappears, Death has taken him, and the female, by interceding with the lugubrious tyrant, is given the opportunity to save him, has three opportunities that involve three different lives on earth; she must act to save her beloved. Without being so blinding, nor as mediatic as the stories of Mabuse, of The Nibelungs or Metropolis -capital works of its author-, this is an extraordinary feature.

                

To a retired village, a young couple arrives, a girl (Lil Dagover) and her boyfriend, (Walter Janssen), without imagining that Death awaits them. There, reside the mayor (Hans Sternberg), the notary (Max Adalbert), the doctor (Wilhelm Diegelmann), all dismayed by the mysterious arrival of a stranger (Bernhard Goetzke), who acquires a land next to the cemetery, which protects with huge walls. The boyfriend disappears, with the stranger, she has visions of souls, among which is her beloved; he finds the stranger, Death, who offers her something, shows her three candles, three human lives to be extinguished, if she manages to save even one of them, he will return the life of her beloved. In the first story, a caliph (Eduard von Winterstein) celebrates in Bagdad, whose sister (Dagover) has a forbidden love affair; they are discovered, he must die, something that, disregard how hard she tries, can not avoid. Second story, in Venice a girl and her fiancé are in love, but separated by her obligation to marry a powerful swordsman, and again, despite her attempt, does not prevent the young man's death. In the third, the emperor of China (Károly Huszár) wishes to have fun, orders his best sorcerer to entertain him, otherwise he will decapitate him; after misfortune, he also dies, but Death has one last chance for the poor girl.

In this, one of the most influential films of the immortal german director, we will find many elements that make it such an essential film, of necessary revision for the enthusiast of silent cinema, the solemn lost period of the seventh art, and at the moment when the picture was produced, the great change, the arrival of sound, was still a chimerical project. As a legend indicates at the beginning of the movie, the feature bases part of its history on an old and popular german song, traditional in its culture and that Lang presents divided into six tales, structured according to the stories through which a mortal woman tries to defeat Death, and ultimately, she will end up achieving it. Immediately, the filmmaker shows us one of the greatest attractions of his film, that is, his representation of Death, a quick, somber representation, in which we can even see some glimpses of what Dreyer would later express in his Vampyr (1932), shown with shots, static shots, which are combined intelligently and precisely with other elements. These frames reinforce the character of the personage, contrasting it with the sky, contrasting it with a cross, generating contrast with the somber and threatening presence of the fatal entity. Then that dark death will still flow, with its great wall, the undaunted face of Bernhard Goetzke, a disturbing figure, hermetic, threatening, distant, hieratic, and yes, also tired, the feature that undoubtedly makes this film a reference without likewise, the concept of a tired death, as an alternative spanish-title prays, weary of its existence and what it generates in men, fascinating concept. A Death that interacts with humans, whom it envies, and to whom it narrates its jaded condition, its bizarre sadness, tired of its curse, of seeing human suffering, of reaping its hatred for obeying God. We find ourselves with a complex character, Death, that force against which the human can not do anything, before which he is helpless as the flame of a candle, humanizes the inhuman, the superhuman, unthinkable destiny, the misunderstood villain emerges, a figure as pathetic as fascinating, a great novelty at the dawn of cinema.

And of course, the filmmaker knows how to transfer that dark tonic of the character to the film in its entirety, with powerful chiaroscuros that will be distributed during the film, something completely logical, because we are talking about one of the great expressionist masters, with all the visual power, the use of black and white, light contrasts, the palette of technical resources usual for the german. So, stands out of the crowd the portentous sequence of her, the protagonist, interviewing with Death, inspiring passage of geniuses, we appreciate those strong contrasts, black and white that reinforce the powerful image of this sequence, perhaps that huge white staircase, just perhaps, had to do a bit with the conception of another similar sequence in Him (1953), by Luis Buñuel, confessed artist inspired by this feature film. There are also the inevitable frames superimpositions, everlasting and inescapable tool of the Expressionists, with serenity but with determination and sharpness they are parading diverse overlayed shots, one of the watchword resources of the expressionist aesthetic. Repeated overlays will happen later, at different moments of the film, showing hallucinations, appearances, souls, spirits many times, and we will see final superimpositions for the lovers' deaths, which seem sordid unfoldings; certainly very employed the resource. Also appear the stairs, another element that refers to expressionism, abundant, twisted many times, dark, populate much of the first segment, stairs on fire in the final story also, another variety of this element. Also flows the parchment that moves alone, great trick that the filmmaker apparently achieved by photographing shot by shot to give the impression of movement; there is the flying carpet as well, good tricks that Douglas Fairbanks would then upgrade, copy and improve in his own work, The Thief of Baghdad (1924). There is also the moment of the small humans that entertain the chinese Emperor, a great example of technical versatility. The film thus stands out with a great use of the expressionist language, because even without the feature landing completely in this current, it takes advantage of its tricks, its resources; at the dawn of the twenties of the last century, of the last millennium, when cinema was being born, Lang had already developed a recognizable language, a language already defined and recognized by the whole world. What has been said, the film may not be overflowing with expressionism, as other masterpieces would do, it is difficult not to be overshadowed by such wonders, but it has rigor, symmetry, its staging is more than correct.

It was the eighth film, the eighth production for an artist who had very well defined his cornerstones, all the seriousness and rigor of the german master, who technically continues developing his language more and more, but at the level of topics we can find a lot of what will always be his work. Death, darkness, magic, demons, supernatural elements, an already formed Lang, his personal print as director is already there, we will see Shiva, and even takes fantastic elements from the Grimm brothers, prefiguring much of what we would see in The Nibelungs (1924). Among other resources deployed, there is first the cup that becomes an hourglass, a symbol of the time that is ending, of the imminence of death, an irrefutable destination; there is also the detail of the flame of the candle that becomes a baby, a baby in the arms of Death, a potent and powerful sequence that exemplifies the ordeal of Death, a misery that has moved and hated even the supernatural entity. In that sense, it is excellent the figure of the flames, the fragile flames of the candles, symbolizing the equally fragile human lives, and there will be other symbols, like the dark owl; it is also interesting the way in which Lang portrays humans, to whom on some occasion, through magic, relates to pigs. In the history the main characters are printed concisely and quickly, with respective epithets that depict some human qualities, his Excellency the mayor, his Eminence the reverend, his Wisdom the doctor, his Precision the notary, in a picture where the main actors repeat in the leading roles of the stories. In this context we are presented with the varied stories, without any link or common bond, a small tradition begins to narrate episodes in this way, the exoticism of three very different places, similar dynamics that we would see later in Wax Works (1924) by Paul Leni, probably also influenced by Lang. In the story, to solve the girl's drama, she will ask for other lives for Death in exchange for the return of the one she loves, but of course, no one wants to die, regardless of the complicated situation in which one finds oneself; she has a final chance, but before the face of the innocence of a baby, she is unable to exchange that life for her boyfriend's. However, at the end of the sordidness, love is stronger than death, in death, it is completed and consumed to the maximum that love, as one of the final messages says, who rejects his life, will win it, we will appreciate the lovers and death, retiring, dark before the horizon, almost as in The Seventh Seal (1957). Rounding out that idea, we have Buñuel, Hitchcock, Bergman, Fairbanks, conspicuous and illustrious constellation of notorious names impacted and influenced by the great work, by this little great masterpiece, irresistible for spectators and cinema people. It is an attractive film, but always overshadowed when compared to the major epics of the director, a very serious film, however, it is inevitable that it pales next to the other major works of Lang, is what it has to be a genius of cinema, with so many and so capitals masterpieces to his credit, being this a serious and firm proposal, is not the climax of the filmmaker's production. Necessary feature, necessary to review it, required for the follower of the best cinema.