A Critical History of German Film (review)

There are numerous books in English about German film history, but Stephen Brockmann’s approach is new and original: he presents twenty-seven feature films made in Germany during the last century in order to narrate a history of German cinema. He chronologically presents the most representative movies of nearly every decade, from Robert Wiene’s Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire (1987). Although he concentrates on landmarks (like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Sternberg’s Blue Angel, and Schlöndorff’s Young Törless), the author also situates every historical period within a more general chapter in each of the book’s seven sections, in order to locate the social context and to mention other movies. The last section aptly presents a few movies produced after German reunification. Among the most recent titles are Run Lola Run (1998), Good Bye, Lenin (2003), and The Power of Art (2006), all directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

In this Critical History of German Film, a typical chapter synthesizes previous research (e.g., Eisner, Kracauer, Elsaesser) and analyzes some significant sequences, such as the opening scene in Lang’s M (116). In his analysis, the author aptly combines many accurate sources in English and German. Thus I learned that in 1996 “German films drew about 16 percent of the domestic market,” which is relatively high and indicates a dynamic era for the local film industry (413).

Every chapter gives the reader “what you need to know” in order to fully appreciate each film’s meanings and influence. For instance, the feature film Blade Runner (1982) and Madonna’s video clip “Express Yourself” both copied Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (83). In other cases, like Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum (1979), Brockmann compares the movie with the original novel (374). The author also acknowledges some debates and controversies about these movies’ reception in the United States, such as when Los Angeles police seized copies of Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum in 1979 because the movie was considered “obscene” (375).

Overall, Brockmann’s Critical History of German Film gives a balanced presentation of one century of German cinema. It not only includes the “golden years” of the Expressionist era and the renewal brought about by Fassbinder (The Marriage of Maria Braun), Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God), and Wenders, but some chapters also analyze the darkest years of Nazi propaganda films (the infamous Triumph of the Will and Die Große Liebe, for example) and the postwar years, during which there seemed to be a lack of inspiration among German filmmakers. The fifth section, dedicated to East German movies between 1946 and 1989, will be the most instructive for those scholars who are already familiar with the classic movies presented in the first chapters; this section includes lesser-known movies, although still representative of Socialist ideology (and the bureaucratic system of production of the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft) with examples such as Sonnensucher (1958) and Solo Sunny (1980).

Of course, because German film history is so rich in comparison with that of most countries, it is impossible to include all the masterpieces (Murnau’s Nosferatu, Lang’s Dr. Mabuse cycle, or Fassbinder’s Veronika Voss are not given a chapter, but they are mentioned in many passages). This is the compromise necessary in order to produce a 500-page book. Students will find an excellent starting point in their understanding of German film history with this book. University libraries should offer this book to their students, along with DVD copies of the movie classics discussed.