Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

If any film could be described as a piece of art it would be F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans from 1927. It won several Oscars in the Academy's first year of existence in 1929.  Among being counted as one of the greatest movies ever made it holds a special place among silent film fans for being able to portray human emotion so clear and vibrant without much text or title cards. The film's director: F.W. Murnau is probably more famous for his horror films like Nosferatu and Faust but I believe Sunrise is slightly better and when that is said you know you have a brilliant director.

The story of Sunrise is basically about a love triangle but not in a way that's cliche or over the top. It starts when a woman from the city goes on vacation to the country side and starts to see a married man. At seeing the man for the first time the actor gives glimpses of regret and you can tell that he feels guilty about it but the temptation is just too much for him to overcome. The man leaves to meet the woman as his wife comes in the room with the dinner made. At seeing the empty room the wife just sits at the table. This is the perfect example of words not being necessary to describe a scene. Her saddened face and lifeless body just sits there waiting for her husband to return. But deep down she knows what he is doing and that pain transcends the screen and touches the viewers. We then get a little flash back when the two were happy. It's a great piece of contrast that adds to the layer of pain. The man starts to sell his things like his oxen probably to buy things for the other woman. The two meet up and the woman then tells the man to sell his farm and to move with her back to the city. The man is a little surprised. He asks of his wife and the woman has a simple solution. Just drown her. The man is taken back but the woman says it'll look like an accident if he over turns the boat. At first he refuses but yields to the woman's demands. The next day the man takes his wife on the boat trip and he tries to throw her off but he could not bring himself to do it. When they get back to the shore the wife runs for her life and the man chases after her. They end up in a trolley that takes them to the city where they end up in a church where the man begs for her forgiveness. And she does. And since they're in the city the two spend the rest of the day just having a great time, getting a picture, dancing and a dazzling set of fire works cap the end of the night. They go back home and decide to go on the boat again. Everything then takes a turn for the worse when the couple gets caught in a storm and this time the wife falls out. The husband gets a group together to look for her but they cannot find her and she is presumed dead. The other woman comes back thinking that the husband went through with her plan the two meet up and she notices that the man is an emotional wreck and he decides to kill her but then his wife was found alive and he races back to his home and sees his wife sleeping in her bed alive and well.

Films can be described in many ways. Ranging from cool to interesting to exciting but not too many films can be called beautiful and that's what this movie is......Beautiful.