The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari Analysis

Michael Li German R5b Essay 2 Foredoomed Failure of Dr. Caligari The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is an expressionism movie by Robert Wiene. A young man tells a horror story that happened in a small town: An old man names Dr. Caligari devotes in hypnotic crime. By using a somnambulist, Cesar, as medium, he could commit murders without being caught by police. One day, Dr. Caligari, along with Cesare, comes to the town for a show in fair. Cesare is so called capable of predicting the future and tells a young man names Alan that he could only live till dawn. The prediction come true and it turns out Cesare murders Alan that night. On the other hand, Dr. Caligari also orders Cesare to kill Jane, a young girl in the town. However, Cesare is captivated
Caligari’s hypnotic crime is severely limited by it’s lack of timely control, especially when Dr. Caligari is not around Cesare. When Cesare comes out of the cabinet for the first time, Dr. Caligari precisely controls every single steps of him: by using a long shot to fit two people in the same frame, the film demonstrates that the two poles in Dr. Caligari’s hands controls all of Cesare’s movement, including his walk and hand movement. (Wiene 16:56) This scene implies that as a hypnotized subject of Dr. Caligari, Cesare needs instructions from his master for all moves in order to have better performance. Therefore, the failure in murdering Jane can be interpreted as lack of correct instruction from Dr. Caligari. In the movie, Cesare kidnaps Jane after she wakes up. Jane’s scream attracts two bodyguards as well as a group of police run after Cesare. There is a long shot in the movie shows Cesare carries Jane pass a corner; it’s clear that he is super tired. In the end, Cesare exhausts himself and fell down because he has carried Jane running for a long time. (Wiene 44:20) Since Dr. Caligari cannot be present to give Cesare proper instructions, Cesare has made two obvious mistakes: one is that he should kill Jane instead of kidnaps her; the other is that he should drop Jane in order to escape. However, as a hypnotized person, Cesare barely has consciousness and therefore cannot make decision himself, As things get complicated, it’s reasonable for Cesare to make mistakes without Dr. Caligari. However, Dr. Caligari can never be present in any criminal, otherwise there’s no sense to use a somnambulist as a medium. Therefore, the paradox suggests as long as Dr. Caligari uses hypnotized person to commit crime, the limitation caused by lack of instructions cannot be