Oct. 2
The Golem / The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)
The Jewish ghetto of Prague is under persecution by the ruling class. To protect and defend his people, Rabbi Loew constructs a large monster out of clay, and breathes life into it with Kabbalistic magic. The newly-living Golem is instructed to serve the Rabbi's wishes, but after a change of the planets orbiting around the sun, the Rabbi's control of the monster is starting to weaken, and soon those he cares about most of all will soon be under direct threat from the very creature he brought life to.
Based on the ancient Jewish legend of the Golem, the movie is the brain-child of writer/director/star Paul Wegener, which is actually his third attempt at bringing the legend to life, and based on what is known of the first two (now lost) films, his most extravagant. The sets are beautiful and large, re-creating the narrow streets of medieval Prague with an eye for expressionistic angles. Fantastic cinematography by the now legendary Karl Freund (who also handled cinematography on Metropolis, Dracula, and directed The Mummy) gives everything a texture and polish that few films of the silent era could match.
While this film is classified as "horror", there's nothing really horrific about it, other than a scene where Rabbi Loew summons the magic word to bring the Golem to life using a Circle of Solomon. I would characterize it more as a fantasy film, with it's use of magic. The Golem itself isn't portrayed for a majority of the film as a threat, more as an imposing, hulking benevolent presence under the watchful eye of the Rabbi. Wegener as the Golem itself, is probably the best actor in the film. With zero lines, he communicates everything through his body language and facial expressions. There's moments in the film where the Golem starts to show signs of an innocent personality, like where it quietly smiles at first seeing sunlight, or at the sight of children playing. After watching this film, there's definitely a direct line from Wegener's Golem to Wale and Karloff's Frankenstein's monster.
Because of the nature of the story, a lot of questions about the portrayal of Jews and the Jewish community arise, and I honestly found the film extremely sympathetic to the Jewish plight. They are the ones being persecuted in the story, and Loew and the other Rabbi's are portrayed as sympathetic heroes, trying to protect and defend the people in their community. Judaism is treated with honor and respect, the only characters that mock Jewish beliefs are the decadent royalty of the court. It is definitely ironic considering this was produced in Germany only a decade before the rise of the Nazis, but Wegener's sympathies historically lie with the Jews. During World War II, Wegener stayed in Germany and was an actor in Nazi-state controlled propaganda, but was secretly donating money to resistance groups, and helping to protect and hide people who were either Jewish fugitives or politically critical of Hitler and his regime.
