"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a stand-out, German silent expressionist classic that uses unique directing and acting to show the harmful relationship between a control and his controlled while showing the stark differences between a human and a machine. Unlike Frankenstein, the beauty of this movie lies in the “sleepy” subtleties shown in the form of a sleepy somnambulist named Cesare that makes the audience feel that they, too, are drifting in front of the camera lens from one shot to the next.

A beautiful mysterious aura surrounds Cesare that keeps the audience’s eyes glued to the set as they try to figure out who he is and what he wants, or in reality, what his master magician wants. The surrealistic sets capture this beautiful aura well, too: everything is strange, exotic, and dizzying like a labyrinth.

It turns out that Cesare can also predict the future, so Dr. Caligari turns him into a walking spectacle for his own and the public’s amusement. Since this movie was made in Germany, the theme of dominance and spectacle reminds me of their impending master-slave theme in the Nazi Holocaust.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is an expressionist film first, but it includes elements of drama, horror, romance, and aesthetics. So no matter what date silent films have gone out of style, this movie will stay in the classics library forever."