Die Nibelungen

Die Nibelungen (2002 DVD)
Directed by Fritz Lang
Germany, 1924
Silent with English intertitles

Another must-see from Herr Lang! People who have been into silent movies for longer than I have won't be surprised by anything I'm about to say, but I was just blown away by the wave after wave of amazing images Lang's team presented here in the course of this nearly five-hour epic. In part one's Siegfried (Siegfried's Tod) alone, you get the hero's battle with the fire-breathing dragon (below), dwarves turning into stone before your eyes, an animated dream sequence with birds of prey foreshadowing Siegfried's eventual death, and a flaming landscape blocking the road to Brunhild's castle with an aurora borealis in the background. While part two's Kriemhild's Revenge (Kriemhilds Rache) moves away from the more fantastic subject matter to concentrate on its all too human narrative of war and vengeance, the visual spectacle continues with Kriemhild's desolate journey in the snow and multiple battle scenes pitting the Nibelungen against the Huns (Rudolf Klein-Rogge, last seen in 1922's Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, turns in an almost equally iconic performance here as Attila the Hun himself).

Beyond the visuals, Lang and screenwriter Thea von Harbou offer up a complex story full of powerful, primal emotions set to a dramatic orchestral score (the Munich Radio Orchestra performing Gottfried Huppertz' 1924 original) that pays homage to the bards who "sing" the work's 14 cantos. While Die Nibelungen is sometimes criticized for being overly nationalistic in sentiment (it is indeed "dedicated to the German people" at the outset, and the Huns are portrayed as ape-like savages), I found its exploration of the pros and cons of personal loyalty and heroism to be a lot more nuanced than the contrast between the Nibelungen and the Huns would lead you to believe. Although Paul Richter's somewhat goofy Siegfried and Hanna Ralph's proto-feminist Brunhild have drawn their share of attention over the years, it's actually Margarete Schoen's austere Kriemhild who steals the show with her mesmerizing transformation from medieval trophy wife to the cold, calculating, revenge-minded empress below. She's neither all good nor all bad, something that helps make her the most complicated character of all. But is she a heroine or a traitor for choosing to avenge Siegfried's death at the cost of the annihilation of her royal family? I'll let you decide:

• Attila the Hun: "Thank you, Kriemhild. Although we never were one in love, we are at least one in hatred!"
• Kriemhild: "Never was my heart more filled with love!"

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