Die Nibelungen
by Fritz Lang
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gertrud Arnold, Hanna Ralph, Margarete Schön, Paul Richter, Theodor LoosDirector: Fritz Lang
Brand: Kino International
Cinematographer: Carl Hoffmann
Cinematographer: Günther Rittau
Cinematographer: Walter Ruttmann
Writer: Fritz Lang
Producer: Erich Pommer
Writer: Thea von Harbou
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Japanese (Dubbed)
Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Silent
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 291 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-19
Audience Rating: Unrated
Model: 2652
Studio: Kino Video
Product features:
- DIE NIBELUNGEN (DVD MOVIE)
Movie Reviews of Die Nibelungen
Movie Review: A Fantasy masterpiece closely tied to history
Summary: 5 Stars
Basically, a film version of the 12th century epic poem, The Nibelungenlied. Film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak, in his essay included on this 2 DVD set, states flatly that Fritz Lang's movie, Die Nibelungen, is "pure propaganda." I must assume he means German Nationalist propaganda, as the movie came out in 1924 and the National Socialist Party was still newly instigated, and not yet in power. In fact, at the time the film was in production, Hitler was in jail for his part in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, writing Mein Kampf, and still virtually unknown to the nation at large. But even then, Germany's Nationalist movement was intent on overturning the Versailles Treaty, which installed the Weimar government, limited Germany's military, as well as her productivity, and left her population to starve paying reparations. If the film is propaganda, it must be for it's take on loyalty.
The two DVD set is beautiful: The transfers are clear and bright, and the cinematography is fantastic. I'd consider this movie worth keeping for both the story, which is a classic tale of love, betrayal and revenge, and the imagery, which hales from an age where film was often treated as fine art, and this film its highest expression. The DVD set is bare bones, though. It has the afore mentioned print documentary and some production stills, but that's about it. Its real appeal is the extra footage, the immaculate transfer, and of course, the epic itself.
My first viewing of Fritz Lang's masterpiece came immediately after reading an English translation of the Twelfth Century epic poem, The Nibelungenlied (or: The Lay of the Nibelung) upon which this movie is based. Both share the same characters and plot line, with the only significant differences being the addition of the dragon slaying scene, only referred to in the book; using Hunnish king Etzel's more recognizable name (to most American audiences, at least) Attila the Hun; and the final scene, which I won't mention for those who have neither read the book, nor seen the movie.
The story is loosely based on real life characters. Both kingdoms did exist. The presence of Attila places the story firmly in the fifth century. The movie adds his departing to sack Rome, and other details of lesser significance, though numerous, not unlike Jackson's treatment of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, only less so. To some, it may be difficult to imagine The Burgundians accepting an invitation to visit Kriemhild after she married Attila, as he was a figure of fear to the Goths, and named by them, "The Scourge of God," but they were honor-bound to do so.
The sense in which Die Nibelungen is propaganda is that Germans were meant to identify with the central figures in it, primarily the traditional national hero, Siegfried, his abused widow, Kriemhild, and the Burgundian King Gunther's henchman, Hagen. The "stab in the back," later referred to by Hitler in reference to the 1918 Versailles Treaty, was intended to conjure up visions of Siegfried being run through by Hagen. And perhaps the German people could see themselves in both Siegfried, and Kriemhild. The parallels are plain: Siegfried and Kriemhild are Germany; the stab in the back was the Versailles Treaty imposed at the end of the first world war; Gunther and Hagen are the Weimar Republic and the League of Nations respectively, and the Huns are the foreign powers from which Germany must enlist aid (Russia, Hungary, et al) to obtain revenge.
It is also possible that Lang and Harbou, the writer(s) of the screenplay, intended the audience to identify with the Hagen character, who is a model of loyalty up to and including his death. No doubt many who did, later followed Hitler. Hagen is depicted by both the book and movie as acting strictly out of loyalty to king and country with no regard to himself, or even morality. And extreme loyalty was vaunted as a high virtue by Hitler's followers, as it was to the story's original medieval audience, who considered utter loyalty by a vassal a virtue. However, the honor accorded Hagen was also due to his prowess as a warrior. But given the medieval mindset, the subtext of his honor must be his loyalty to Gunther, as such was his bond of fealty. Hagen's character was not unlike those who, after World War II, refused the ignoble claim that "I was only following orders" to distance themselves from their Führer. In this light, Hagen was not so much bloodthirsty, as angry at the inevitability of having to die due to an irredeemable set of circumstances. But even if one accepts Hagan as a somewhat sympathetic figure, loyal to his king and unflinching in the face of death, the story's sense of loyalty might be somewhat lost on modern audiences.
The story has two opposing, but ultimately equally disastrously fated central characters; interchangeably protagonist and antagonist: Kreimhild, who could no more refrain from seeking revenge for the murder of her husband and loss of her fortune, than could Hagen be disloyal to his liege lord. This is the principle conflict in Die Nibelungen, and I suppose what gives the story its enduring appeal. But it's hard to tell if these dueling antagonist/protagonist roles were intentionally left in the movie to the end of driving its German audience to action, or as a warning. Frankly I find the coincidences between the fantasy and the ensuing reality more than a little striking. If the movie was meant to be taken as a metaphor for Germany, if she followed in the footsteps of those depicted therein, did her people think they'd somehow escape their fate? Knowing the predicament Germany was in after World War One, and knowing Germans would see their nation in the story, Fritz Lang may have intended Die Nibelungen as a warning. It's high tragedy, and a beautifully done Gothic film, but if the German people failed to see their fate closely tied to that of its central pro/antagonists, the only explanation is that either they were not looking, or simply didn't care.
Summary of Die Nibelungen
DIE NIBELUNGEN SAGA:SIEGFRIED/KRIEMHI - DVD Movie