Muziek·Maxazine.nl·23 sep 2023

Der Mude Tod (1921)

Als kind kreeg Fritz Lang tijdens een koortsaanval een visioen van de dood. In zijn boek ‘Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast’ tekent schrijver Patrick McGilligan het volgende op: “He recalled envisioning the approach of ’the dark stranger’ in a wide-brimmed hat, illumined by the moonlight streaming in through a half-open window. ‘I slept and dreamed-or was I awake?’ He glimpsed ’the tear-stained face of my adored mother,’ as she slipped from view. He raised himself up weakly, to be led away by Death. Helping hands grabbed him, pushed him down, saved him. The horror of the dream-experience combined with ‘a kind of mystical ecstasy which gave me, boy though I still was, the complete understanding of the ecstasy which made martyrs and saints embrace death.’ ”