Der Golem is an engrossing movie primarily because of how it looks: Paul Wegener's film represents color tinted, eerie German expressionism with weird interiors and just as strikingly wonderful outdoor sets. The story builds upon the Jewish legend about the Golem, a clay figure brought to life by means of sorcery and invocation of the secret name. In the film, the Golem is brought to life in order to save Jews from some danger that a rabbi foretells in the constallation of the stars. It turns out that the emperor has decided that the Jews are to leave the ghetto of Prague. But the Golem is not a dependable protector and worker - especially when used for the wrong purpose. What follows is a Frankenstein story about transgressive and dangerous forms of power and creation intermingled with a love story. As I knew very little about the film, it was not clear to me whether the story would have antisemitic traits. I don't think it had many, at least not very clear ones. The expulsion from the ghetto is clearly shown to be unjust. As far as I could tell, the film did not appear to propound any statement about "Jewish character". But on the other hand, what was the meaning of the end of the film, the fade-out image of the David star? And obviously the film did trade on the image of Jews as a group mainly consisting of bearded old men.
As I said, it is the visual style of the film that impressed me the most. The colors contributed to the overall weirdness of the film. The dream-like quality of light in the images was a perfect way to carve out an uncanny living space for the clumsy Golem figure. Plus there were some scenes towards the end that had a strangely comic aspect: a little girl overpowering the Golem by tossing out the amulet that guarantees its life.
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