Inflation

German avant-garde director Hans Richter is well-known for his unique brand of abstract film-making. Next to the craziness that was 'Ghosts Before Breakfast (1928),' this particular short seems comparatively ordinary by comparison. At least 'Inflation (1928)' has a basis in reality, so it doesn't ache your brain to try and work out what contention, if any, Richter is trying to communicate through his work. From 1921-1923, Germany suffered a significant period of hyperinflation, certainly one of the most studied cases in world economic history. In 1922, the highest denomination was 50,000 Mark. By 1923, the highest denomination was 100,000,000,000,000 Mark. Richter traces the rapid degradation of the US-German exchange rate, dramatically working towards the moment when it took 50 million Marks to buy a single US dollar. The notion of hyperinflation is one economic concept that boggles the mind. An inflation rate that reaches the millions? The mere thought seems absurd, even surreal. It's only appropriate that Richter would treat it as exactly that: a bizarre, surreal nightmare.

For 'Inflation,' Richter utilises his usual bag of tricks – quick editing, cross-fades, double-exposures, blurred photography and superimpositions. The film cuts frequently between piles of banknotes – lots and lots of money, now utterly worthless – as men beg weakly on the streets, and cigar-smoking fat-cats obliviously await their demise. Nervous shareholders bustle to sell their stock; worried faces survey their financial situation. A respectable-looking middle-class worker buys the newspaper, reads the latest inflation-related news, and removes his hat to plead for charity. Nobody can escape, and doom is inevitable. Like a frantic nightmarish curse, the inflation destroys all in its path, and the film's feverish pacing underlines the rapidity with which this economic plague arose and is growing. Richter's montage concludes with the demolition of a building, slow-motion images of wooden pylons tumbling into the dirt. Is this the sight of a nation being brought to its knees? Ironically, Richter was here being stunningly prescient: the Great Depression was just around the corner, and the rest of the world would fair no better than Germany.

'Inflation' is a short film depicting Germany's inflation between the two World Wars. With quite some special effects, director Hans Richter compares the US dollar with the Deutsche Mark and shows that in a short period of time the dollar is equal to 50.000.000 DM. The story in this film, which could be seen as a documentary, is just that.

The film is interesting from a technical point of view. The somewhat surrealistic images are created through various kind of special effects and although dated, they still look pretty nice. Although I would sooner recommend a Dziga Vertov film (same time, more different techniques), 'Inflation' is still well worth seeing. After all, it only takes a couple of minutes.

Hans Richter, following his previous effort "Filmstudie", made this even shorter film in which he did not utilize any sort of geometric abstraction, which was prominent in his earlier work. Initially, film for him had been all about expanding on the work of his cubist/expressionist paintings, including shapes like squares, circles, etc.; but the more he experimented, the more he became a true filmmaker in his own right, and "Inflation" could be considered his first real exploration into photography. The film's images, blended skillfully with some very good special effects, intend to convey a sense of overwhelming desperation while still remaining abstract enough to call experimental, and that they do.

"Inflation" bases itself off of the economic period of Germany in the 1920's, where hyperinflation was prominent and one was literally faced with the "wheelbarrow of money for a loaf of bread" stereotype, which led to Hitler's rise to power. Through images of currency, numbers, etc., Richter paints an effective picture of the crisis his country was experiencing through the mounting tension as the numbers grow higher and higher. Considering his other work, the film is hardly anything overly exciting, but for the three minutes it runs it successfully fulfills its goal in a rather striking fashion. Solid evidence of Richter's technical skills, and a good if not perfect way of introducing the work of this filmmaker.

This film is about what happens when/if there is an economic collapse (for us) and documents the total failure of the Weimar Republic in Germany after WW1.

Well for us it is more about imagining the powerlessness; economic collapse could happen at any time, yielding us powerless. I would say that to a modern viewer, this film is largely about imagining what happens when your society fall into complete helplessness.

The use of montage is powerful.

I last saw this film in 1992, projected in Los Angeles in a nice theater. It made an impact and when I close my eyes I can still imagine scenes from the film. That, to me, is impact.

Find a way to see this film. It is incredible.