Brother

During the last years of the Weimar Republic turmoil, many interesting communist films were directed in Germany. They denounced injustice and the deplorable social and economic situation of the Teutonic workers but of course such concerns run counter to the interests of the aristocratic class ( in those same old days at the Schloss, the servants were also in an uproar ). These films were often a faithful portrait of a decadent society at the edge of the abyss. "Brüder", a film directed by Herr Werner Hochbaum ( who was a remarkable film director in the talkie 30's ), was one of those films which showed the harsh daily life of the working class. The film depicts, in a kind of fictional documentary, the 1896 Hamburg dockworkers' strike: the workers receive meagre wages for hard work and live under miserable conditions and finally go on strike (to make matters more personal, one of the strikers has a brother who is a policeman). Even though the inspiration for the story was an event that took place in the XIX century, things had little changed by the troublesome twenties so the story had a perfect contemporary ring. "Brüder" was a co production of the docker's labour union with the SPD (German Social democrat Party); this was nothing unusual for German productions filmed in that era. Political films were often supported by political parties like the SPD or German communist sympathizers since film was such a good vehicle for propaganda. Besides its political and historical interest, this film is very interesting for its artistic merits in spite of Herr Hochbaum's slow pacing. "Brüder" was influenced by the notorious Russian cinema in concept, style and its political message for the working class masses. The documentary angle of the film ( the most important and successful film aspect for this German count ) vividly shows he terrible daily life of the common people in Germany. This is done without embellishment and vividly paints a sad portrait of a common family ( which could be any family ) and their desperation in a country that was torn by continuous civil conflict.