Sunrise

Murnau's Sunrise has certainly been one of my favorite screenings so far. Everything about this film, from the story to the set design, kept me intregued throughout.



It involves a man who promises his mistress he would kill his wife in order to be with her. However, after realising that he is in fact still in love with his wife, he backs out of his plan to drown her in the river and takes her to the city - a strange descision seeing as he was planning to kill her at first! Altough, I think that their almost sickening happiness added to the audiences enjoyment. I was certainly waiting for the moment when we realise it was all just an act and suddenly whips out a gun or something. At one point I even thought his wife was going to kill him out of revenge!... but that shows how synical I am. I really do have to learn just to accept a happy ending.



But What really interested me was what was written on the first title card. I can't remember exactly, but it explained that this story could happen between any man and woman, at any time, any place. Therefore throughout the film I was constantly asking myself, 'what would this be like if it were set in the present day?'. The story of Sunrise could be told today and still be relatable - themes such as trust and love are always going to be something which audiences get a great deal of enjoyment from.



As well as the story, another thing I found interesting about Sunrise was the massive set. There is a scene where a boat is coming into a town full of lots of houses and people. It was hard to believe that the whole set was built for the purpose of the film.



By watching Sunrise one thing is made clear - that the use of dialogue is not often necessary. It is the performance of the actors adn the way they look at eachother which let the audience aware of certain relationships and what is going on. The scene in the boat where the man is considering drowning his wife would be horible if there were a voice over telling us exactly what was going on inside his head. We know that he was taken over with guilt due to his performance alone. Without dialogue, silent films are equally as capable of telling a story with the same themes and morals as films made in the present day.