Refuge

“Zuflucht” directed by Carl Froelich in the late 20’s is an interesting melodrama about a revolutionary longhaired man ( Herr Francis Lederer ) who spent nine years in Russia where he ignored the worries that this fool decision has caused his bourgeois family. When he finally returns to his own country, he is ragged, hungry and ill, but he meets a poor girl ( Henny Porten )who takes care of him.”Zuflucht” is a film that has a typical social melodrama plot and a predictable tragic ending as well as many vaguely drawn characters ( the script is certainly simple)but what is most remarkable and worthwhile about this movie is its social background. “Zuflucht” reflects he complicated and hard times suffered by the German citizens during that fluid period of German history in the late 1920’s. We see the day by day harsh life of the workers ( crowded marketplaces, the Berliner subway construction, hospitals ) and their poor neighborhoods where these people struggle to survive. Unlike many other films made during that time of social and economic turmoil the movie does not flinch from showing the misery and scarce hope of the working people. Since the main character of the film belongs to a wealthy industrial family, it is also very interesting to watch and compare the different backgrounds and the contrast between the working class and the upper class depicted in the film, this gives the film great value as a social document of a troubled and complex time.And now, if you’ll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must return to his cosy Schlöss after the stroll by suburbia.