Vegan alert: -Milk production -Riding horses-Horses reined -Bratwurst -Lion eating hunk of meat -Lobster and oysters -Little boy pulls a cub's tail -Ladies’ furs Vegan points:Fallen horse gets up
Cinemas
EN
Directed by Walter Ruttmann
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
Berlin, die Symphonie der Großstadt
An ensemble, atmospheric documentary.
Documentary
1927
1h 9m
3.7(9.5k)via LetterboxdPaul von Hindenburg
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
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Cast & crew
2What people say
75Man-made wonderment and alienation - a thriving city in the midst of industrial complexity, giving way to nonhuman disposal and towering evil.
After spending a week in Berlin, it only felt right to revisit the city in celluloid. This artefact had only ever been a historical footnote and a poetic title in my mind. Yet it’s modest runtime contains within it absolute majesty befitting this metropolis. From the ripples of the Spree to the flight of a locomotive, we cut across Berlin to the persistent beat of a rhythmic drum. Architecture, industry, and burgeoning technology compete for the limelight. The camera is the upmost diplomat covering all and capturing the minutiae of modernity in between. There is solipsistic beauty to be found in the crooked crease of a blended blind, the curious prowl of the city’s stray cats, the copious smoke billowing from trains, chimneys and cigarettes alike. The Weimar machine ticking away as darkness broods below its veneer of functionality. Inevitable turmoil awaiting in the distance, ready to shatter this proud vision of human prosperity.It is so much more than a dusty document of history. Through the Symphony of the a Great City, Berlin breathes. It lives forever.
Common questions
What is Berlin: Symphony of a Great City about?+
It is an experimental silent documentary that depicts the daily rhythm of life in 1920s Berlin from dawn until nightfall.
Who directed Berlin: Symphony of a Great City?+
It was directed by German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann in 1927, known for his pioneering work in the avant-garde city symphony movement.
Is the film silent?+
Yes, the original production is a silent documentary, though almost all modern presentations are accompanied by a musical score.
