Just finished watching Sunrise: A song for two Humans by Murnau, but it's too late to write anything meaningful now. I'll edit this post tomorrow into a short presentation of the film. Sunrise: A Song for two Humans (USA, 1927)
Silent drama by F.W.Murnau. A couple of villagers rediscover their love during a trip to the city. The title suggests it's a movie about love, but it really is about the contrast between city and village. City dwellers understand modernity and feel comfortably with it; by contrast, for the couple every modern item (cars, photography) is both a miracle and a threat - as they hardly know how to use them properly. They almost get run over by a car, they don't know how to behave at the barber's shop, and they ignore etiquette when it comes to dancing. Although they enjoy their time at the city, they never stop being strangers in a foreign place.
In a masterful scene that highlights their ignorance, the man accidentally drops a miniature replica of an ancient statue. When he lifts it he notices that the arms and the head are missing (obviously on purpose) and he mistakenly thinks he destroyed the statue. He quickly puts the head of a toy on the miniature and disappears before anyone accuses him of vandalism.
But this ignorance can also be a blessing as the two villagers are more open to the experiences of life. In another beautiful scene the couple poses for a photo and they spontaneously kiss thinking the photographer is looking away. They then pose seriously for a photo, but on the exit from the shop they are delighted to find out the photographer has captured their kiss instead of the serious pose. They quickly put the photo away with the glee of a prude who broke the rules.
A dark side of the film is that it resonates with several stereotypes of the Nazis about peasants and corrupt modernity (cabarets, prostitution, crime, speculation). No wonder they filmed a remake in 1939 (Die Reise nach Tilsit).