Scary Twist

I have to agree with Seth and Julia. I really like the framing device, and it did not make me distrust Francis one bit at the end. At the film's conclusion I was confused as to how Caligari escaped confinement and became director again, and turned everyone against Francis. I felt sorry for Francis, and the end saddened me because it was an unhappy ending for the narrator I was rooting for the entire time. This is probably taking the film out of context, but today during class I was thinking about the whole undermining authority thing and German expressionism. And Germany. German expressionism involves symbols, right? Well, what if Francis is the average citizen, concerned for his and society's well being; Cesare represents law enforcement, subject to the command of higher government; and Caligari is ultimately the "head honcho" of government, as he is the head honcho of the insane asylum in the end? Now, relating these symbols to the end scene, Francis, an average citizen, awakes one day to find that he is being imprisoned by some authority figure HE knows is crazy, but everyone else does not; and Cesare, the law enforcement with a bit of a conscience, is no where to be seen. Only Caligari and his will prevail. This made me think of Hitler, and the way Germans viewed him. Maybe this is the same situation, only turned on its head. I'm sure that some of Hitler's supporters changed their minds once they saw what he was doing to the Jews. I'm sure that they trusted him, just like Francis trusted the authorities in the movie. However, once they found themselves doubting his sanity or morality, they also found themselves in danger, as Francis did. As opposers to Hitler they were likely to be put away, like Francis was. And what a terrible feeling, to wake up and not feel secure anymore, to have law enforcement tell you that you are wrong, guilty of a crime, or crazy (as Francis was diagnosed) and put you in confinement (jail/insane asylum/internment camp). I'm not sure if Hitler had begun his rise to power yet, and this may be way besides the point of the movie, but I thought I'd give it a try. I believe the frame makes the audience ask themselves, "Wow, what if that happened to me? Could that happen? Is it possible for someone crazy to become an authority figure?". They have no choice but to ask themselves this when the trusted narrator, who the audience identifies/empathizes with, is thrown into an unfortunate situation.