Highly Overrated But Still Good

Brilliant and touching

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I wonder what he is today, almost a 100 years later. "Destiny" is a silent movie by famous German director Fritz Lang and it runs for 100 minutes, at least the version I watched. Lang gut help with the script once again by Thea von Harbou, with whom he worked together on a regular basis. This was a very early project of the two, considerably before "M" and "Metropolis". Both were around 30 years of age at this point. The story is as follows. Two people are madly in love, but sadly for the guy the time has come and Death takes him on his last journey. The woman will not accept it and begs Death until he finally gives in and giver he the chance to win his beloved back. People about to die are symbolized by candles who are about to go out. Death shows her 3 candles who are about to go out soon and tells her that if she can keep one of these from going out, then she will get her beloved back. But this is where the contradictions start. If a man's time has come, then there is no way in keeping him from dying. Death said so himself earlier in the film. So is he just toying with her?Maybe, as the woman does not manage to save a single one of these three souls. So, she gets another chance... I always think of Death as a relentless character and I just cannot understand how he shows mercy so many times in this film that he would even give her another chance at the end. I quite liked the core action here. I only wondered why they would introduce all the townsfolk in the pub early on if they don't play a role at all later as the film progresses. But it wasn't bad and the actual idea of those 3 challenges is a decent one too. However, it hurts in terms of predictability. It was so clear that she would at least fail the first two, so this was basically half an hour wasted and we knew the outcome anyway. Apart from that, I did not like these 3 sequences anyway. Putting her in completely different regions of the world was a nice idea, but everything that happened during these 3 parts was just so uninteresting and I never really felt for her and prayed that she would manage to save the guy. The ending wasn't bad either. I read the core plot afterward, but this film was just so confusing at times that it was really difficult to understand what exactly was going on. I would definitely prefer it as a book version and I am not even a great reader. Then again, I am not the greatest silent movie fan either. Giving this one a chance does not change my perception that the genre is generally not too interesting and certainly not my cup of tea. Dagover did not impress me really here, but the actor who played Death was pretty good. I recommend "Destiny" only to silent film lovers. Everybody else will not enjoy it.

The biographical entry for Fritz Lang in the invaluable World Film Directors reference book offers a revealing quote. It seems that when he was a teenager he became gravely ill, and at the peak of his delirium experienced a vivid hallucination. As Lang later described it, "I saw myself face to face, not terrifying, but unmistakable, with Death . . . I don't know whether I should call the feeling I experienced at that moment one of fear. It was horror, but not panic. I recovered quickly, but the love of death, compounded of horror and affection . . . stayed with me and became a part of my films." Lang, who was Austrian, served in the Army during the First World War where he saw considerable combat and, of course, encountered death on a horrific scale. (He also lost the use of his right eye.) While still in the service he launched his career in the movies by submitting screenplays to producer Joe May, and soon afterward acted in two of May's films, playing the Angel of Death in "Hilde Warren und der Tod." Lang began directing in 1919 and was successful almost immediately but remained largely unknown outside Germany until his first genuinely personal project, "Der Müde Tod," burst upon the scene in 1921 and became an international sensation. Lang's timing was perfect, for in the troubled period following the war interest in spiritualism and the afterlife was intense. This film represented the director's most thorough exploration of the fever dream of his adolescence, for here Lang utilized elements gathered from the myth and folkloric traditions of various cultures to explore a question posed by the leading lady to the Grim Reaper himself: Is Love stronger than Death?In the opening scenes we're introduced to a happy young couple who intend to marry. On their travels they encounter a stranger, a gaunt and unsmiling figure in a black cloak who is heading for the same village that is their destination; the very sight of him darkens the atmosphere and kills their joyous mood. The stranger is Death himself, who seeks to purchase land owned by the village elders. The stranger informs the elders that he is weary-- from his exertions during the Great War? --and wishes to settle down. Once he buys land the stranger erects an estate surrounded by an impossibly high wall, a wall with no apparent door or entryway, and his next act is to claim the soul of the Young Man. The Young Woman searches the village and fails to find her fiancé, but when she takes poison she is able to pass through the wall and confront Death. He takes her to a room filled with candles representing the souls of humanity. When the Young Woman demands that Death restore her fiancé to life he agrees to do so only if she can defeat him, and he gives her three opportunities.The Young Woman's three chances to defeat Death unfold in the form of three tales set in disparate parts of the world in three different historical periods: Persia in the days of the Caliphate, Renaissance Venice, and Imperial China. Three incarnations of her Young Man are threatened with extinction, and three incarnations of the Young Woman have a chance to rescue him. These stories make up the bulk of the movie and each is longer and more elaborate than the one preceding. Eventually, when the Young Woman proves unable to beat Death she is given one final chance to win back her fiancé, but when she finds the price demanded of her too high to pay, the lovers are nonetheless reunited in the afterlife in a strangely gratifying finale.The historical adventures take place in highly stylized worlds, especially the Chinese segment, but even the film's Middle-European framing story features expressionistic structures that resemble stage sets, just as the (unnamed) young man and woman at the center of these events are meant to embody folkloric archetypes rather than dimensional characters. Lang's Persia, Venice and China suggest a child's notion of what these places might be like; the palaces have the look of enormous doll-houses. And of course the magical element is derived from fairy tales: the Chinese magician summons a miniature army of soldiers to amuse the Emperor, and is himself later turned into a cactus (one of the film's most memorable and disturbing images), while the Emperor is a fairy tale villain with grotesquely long claw-like fingernails. "Der Müde Tod" is, with Maurice Tourneur's 1918 classic "The Blue Bird," one of the cinema's first great flights of fantasy, suffused with imaginative effects and whimsical touches but undergirded with a deep sense of sadness.Like many silent films this one has been shown in a variety of editions over the years, but the restoration completed in 2000 that is now available on DVD from Image Entertainment appears to be the closest to Lang's original version. This edition recreates the color tints of 1921 and the type-faces of the original title cards, which attempted to capture the exotic calligraphic styles of the three foreign lands of the adventure stories. (My only criticism is that I found the "Persian" type rather difficult to read.) This disc also boasts a beautiful score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, music that enhances the visuals without drawing undue attention to itself. For those who can't attend a public screening of this rarely shown gem the Image DVD is about as good as silent movies get on the home screen; and Fritz Lang's "Der Müde Tod" is one of the most fascinating silent movies.

I really was impressed by Fritz Lang's "Destiny". It seemed like the pictorialization of a timeless German fable rather than a figment of Lang's imagination. The story of a young woman in medieval times whose beloved fiancée is taken by death while they travel through a small village, it is timelessly haunting even now. It must have really hit people hard in 1921 Germany, three years after the death and destruction of WWI. The framing story is set around three mini-stories set in ancient Persia, Renaissance Venice and China. These stories are well done and diverting, but also a bit distracting from the poignant main story which was what I really responded to. Lang seemed totally assured and powerful as a filmmaker even in 1921. Lil Dagover was affecting as the heroine and Bernhard Goetzke gave a powerful and moving performance as Death. He was also great in Joe May's "The Indian Tomb" released in 1921 also. I highly recommend "Destiny" or "Der Mude Tod" to anyone at all interested in silent film or the career of Fritz Lang.

I used to associate Fritz Lang only with the great movies "Metropolis", "M", and "Dr. Mabuse". This mindset suddenly changed last night when I watched a screening of Destiny in Manila. (A screening sponsored by the Goethe Institute).Before the screening I asked myself: How come I didn't hear of this movie before ? How does this compare with "Metropolis", "M", and "Dr. Mabuse" ? Upon watching the movie, I felt privileged I was given a chance to watch a movie so rare, yet at par with Lang's best works. I told myself, "I struck gold !!!" Destiny is a very vivid depiction of the power of love over death. I was astounded by the sheer imagery, and the poetic resonance.The production design and effects are ahead of its time. I didn't realize that a very smooth "ghost effect" have been already achieved since 1921.From the background of the village to the stranger's appearance, I was reminded of Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (A movie on my wish list. My exposure to this movie is through still images I saw in a book on cinema.) I was amazed with the way they recreated Turkey, Venice, and China. It offered me a surrealistic experience, that some fantasy movies of today fail to do.Following is a my short interpretation of this wonderful movie: A couple on their way to honeymoon is the prime of life. A "stranger" (Death), suddenly comes unexpected. Bernhard Goetzke impressively played the role. His aura exuded with a haunting eeriness that was etched on my mind.The stranger in the village is the subject of endless discussion by the dignitaries. It just reflects the enigma of death itself.The couple met the stranger. A few moments later, his man and the stranger disappeared. The woman was distraught over having her fiancée fetched by the stranger. Distraught on learning his abduction, she sought Death, and begged for her loved one. She was given three chances on three different locales, and she failed it all.She was given one more chance: to find a person who is willing to give his life for her fiancée. She found an old man, a beggar, and a number of sick people. All of them has one reply: " Not one day, not one hour, not one breathe." It just showed me how important life is and the unyielding conviction to cling to it.Out of her undying love for her fiancée, the film leads to the philosophical resolution that glued me to my seat after the screening. It pushed me to stop for a while and think about a few things.