Short and Sweet:
“The Weavers” is a faithful film adaptation of the eponymous stage play by Gerhart Hauptmann, belonging to the realistic silent film era, featuring a prominent theatrical cast. Parallels to Russian revolutionary films in scene arrangement, camerawork, and editing techniques are unmistakable.
Action:
Germany in the 19th century. The weavers working for the factory owner Dreißiger have to toil under inhumane conditions. The exhausted and sometimes ailing workers hand over their woven goods day after day in a dark room. There, their products are first weighed, then inspected, and finally approved. Often, money is deducted from their meager wages for dubious reasons. The weavers are at the mercy of their employer. His extended arm, the clerk Pfeifer, who was once a weaver himself, tries to lower wages by
The renowned film critic S. Kracauer: “In the film adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann’s ‘The Weavers,’ the great Russian films ‘Battleship Potemkin’ and ‘Mother’ served as models. The adaptation of certain thematic motifs was already facilitated by the (modified for film use) stage work. The early capitalist factory owner torments the weavers. […] More important than the thematic resemblance to the Russian films is the technical mastery. How the sequences of images should be managed, how selected details can
convey the overall appearance, how to work with contrasts, and how to symbolize different social environments—all this has been learned from the Russians. We see: withered limbs, old women and men whose features are poignant, a stupefied figure resembling Rübezahl, a wooden Pietist face, a roast dog, the small cottages, a picket fence. A poor boy dreams into the treetops of the avenue and rides on the manufacturer’s child’s rocking horse. Weaver legs stride, the masses stir. This is excellently learned.” constantly making complaints.
One day, a severe confrontation occurs, escalating the already tense situation. The young weaver Bäcker is not willing to be pushed around and cheated, and confronts Pfeifer and even Dreißiger. Although Bäcker receives his wages, he is no longer employed, being deemed a troublemaker and potential agitator. When the other weavers are told they must now work for half their previous wages, an uprising occurs among the exploited workers. The former soldier Moritz Jäger incites the weavers not to let Dreißiger and his willing henchman Pfeifer bully them any longer. Chanting the rebellious ‘Dreißiger Song,’ the group of weavers marches through the village to Dreißiger’s magnificent estate.
Dreißiger’s family narrowly escapes from the enraged protesters. The rebellious weaver’s storm and vandalize the building, then move on to the next village. There stands a mechanical weaving factory, where the workers’ wages are also cut in half. This factory is also stormed by the furious workers. The owners call in the military to restore order. But the weavers have gone too far to turn back. The fight for fair wages for hard work prevails, and the soldiers retreat under a hail of stones.
About:
The renowned film critic S. Kracauer: “In the film adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann’s ‘The Weavers,’ the great Russian films ‘Battleship Potemkin’ and ‘Mother’ served as models. The adaptation of certain thematic motifs was already facilitated by the (modified for film use) stage work. The early capitalist factory owner torments the weavers. […] More important than the thematic resemblance to the Russian films is the technical mastery. How the sequences of images should be managed, how selected details can convey the overall appearance, how to work with contrasts, and how to symbolize different social environments—all this has been learned from the Russians. We see: withered limbs, old women and men whose features are poignant, a stupefied figure resembling Rübezahl, a wooden Pietist face, a roast dog, the small cottages, a picket fence. A poor boy dreams into the treetops of the avenue and rides on the manufacturer’s child’s rocking horse. Weaver legs stride, the masses stir. This is excellently learned.”