„Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari“

Caligari - the film

„The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari“ was filmed in 1920 under the direction of Robert Wiene and is considered a classic among silent films. It is regarded as the first true horror film, which caused excitement not least due to its previously unknown expressionist style. Painted and constructed, grotesquely distorted sets combined with high-contrast lighting are complemented here with painted light and shadow.

The film tells the story of Dr. Caligari, who exhibits a somnambulist medium named Cesare at the carnival and allows him to predict the future. Two friends attend the performance together, and one of them is murdered the following night after Cesare had predicted his death. Caligari turns out to be a madman who uses Cesare as an instrument of murder. In the end, however, the film takes a twist (not intended by the screenwriter Carl Mayer): the entire story is merely a delusion of a patient in a mental institution, with Caligari being the director of that institution – now knowing how to heal the truly insane. The story of the film is surrealistic, and the unusual ending was a result of the censorship of the time. In contemporary context, the character of Caligari represents an unabashed critique of authority and the culture of the defeated German Empire in World War I.

Caligari - the music

An expressionist film that broke new ground at the time consequently also demands expressive music. The band project “Caligari” has therefore decided to go new musical paths as well. While – back then as today – silent film music is almost exclusively equated with orchestral accompaniment or limited to soundscapes, here the film is interpreted in all its dynamics using the means of a progressive rock band.

However, the immense images of the film are at the center, and its multifaceted moods point the way.