Psychological and sociological portrait of Camillo Castiglioni, the king of inflation, who became one of Europe's richest men in the twenties through speculation and war profiteering.
Jahrmarkt-Ausrufer, Hitler-Puppenspieler, Junger Goebbels, Schüler des Kosmologen, SS-Mann
Not porno, not underground film, not a good entertainment film, not documentary, not social criticism nor Hollywood boulevard film or horror show: rather a journey into the midst of night, a hell ride to paradise lost, into our inner self. The mystery play of a historical dance of death in the black studio of our phantasy, the ascetic “Trauerarbeit” (toils of mourning) on the end of an epoch, millions of dead. In old times one would have called it an epos, a poem, requiem, oratorio; an attempt to find a new German identity through film. And also about the heritage of Hitler in our present world, something about the infernal victory of quantitative democracy; about the calmness of melancholy and the thesis that Hitler can only be defeated with Richard Wagner.
Elisabeth, a forty year old woman, visits her old father in the outskirts of Klagenfurt. There, she reflects about her childhood and her romantic life.
This ethereal, three-hour biopic is the middle film in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s “German Trilogy” on the mythological foundations of the Third Reich. By fusing theater, music, and cinema, Syberberg conjures up Karl May (1842-1912), the immensely popular German author, who set many of his adventure novels in an idealized version of the American Wild West. His tales of the cowboy and the Ubermensch alike were beloved by many, including (Our) Hitler, who supposedly ordered his generals to read May works after defeats in the Russian campaign.
