Kameradschaft (1931)

Kameradschaft: Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. With Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt. Plea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion.

“This, the finest achievement from Georg Wilhelm Pabstu0026#39;s Social Realism period is based upon a tragedy in early 1906 that claimed the lives of nearly 1100 French miners as a coal dust explosion deep in mines at Courrieres in northern France took place after a fire had smouldered for three weeks, eventually releasing deadly pit gas that brought about the fatalities. Estimable designer Erno Metzner creates stark sets that simulate the tragedy, providing a perception of reality, augmented by matchless sound editing, with the only music being produced by integral orchestras during the beginning and ending portions of a work for which aural effects possess equal importance with the eminent directoru0026#39;s fascinating visual compositions. Pabstu0026#39;s manner of u0026quot;invisible editingu0026quot; that segues action from shot to shot through movements of players proves to be smoothly integrated within this landmark film that also showcases sublime cinematography utilizing cameras mounted upon vehicles, enabling the director to shift amid scenes without having a necessity of cutting. Although the worku0026#39;s cardinal theme relates to Socialist dogma, the unforgettable power of this film is held in its details, born of Pabstu0026#39;s nonpareil skill at weaving numerous plot lines into a cinema tapestry that stirs one to admiration for German rescue squads of whom their Fatherland is greatly proud while no less despairing of disastrous losses to the families of French victims; certainly, a seminal triumph fully as stimulating today to a cineaste as it was at the time of its first release.”