Review of Rhinegold

I came across this movie totally by happenstance, and picked it up because I was vaguely intrigued by the name. I had never heard about this movie before, nor of any of the actors or contributors.

This is an incredible, hallucinatory, lucid, riveting movie. Although there is little external action, it sucks the viewer right in and keeps him on the edge of his seat, by constantly introducing new developments and characters, through minute but perpetual twists and turns, but also through the breathtaking cinematography (director Nikolaus Schilling mostly worked as a cameraman before taking up directing, and it really shows).

The title refers of course to the Wagner opera, from which incidentally The Lord Of The Rings later borrowed its motif: the struggle between love (the pure gold) and power (the ring forged from the raw gold). And this is also the motif of the movie, of a woman who is torn between wealth, comfort and security (and affection) and passionate, but impoverished love. A conflict which she is eventually, and tragically, unable (or unwilling) to resolve.

This is an absolutely brilliant movie, which I highly recommend.