Es werde Licht! 2. Teil

Summary

In the gripping social drama "Es werde Licht! 2. Teil," director Richard Oswald plunges into the profound ethical chasm surrounding venereal disease, specifically syphilis, challenging the prevailing moralistic dogma of early 20th-century society. The narrative centers on a young, rigidly principled physician whose worldview is shackled by the conviction that such afflictions are solely the just desert of the morally bankrupt. This entrenched perspective ignites a fierce intellectual skirmish during a venerated venereologist's symposium, where his categorical condemnations clash violently with a more empirically grounded, compassionate colleague. The film meticulously charts the protagonist's profound epistemological rupture, orchestrated by two seismic personal tribulations: his beloved sister's unwitting entanglement with a man still harboring the disease, and, more viscerally, his own unwitting contraction through a seemingly innocuous kiss. These deeply unsettling experiences serve as a crucible, forcing a radical re-evaluation of his self-righteous convictions, ultimately leading him through a harrowing journey of illness and recovery to a more empathetic, nuanced understanding of human frailty and medical ethics.

Synopsis

The second syphilis film poses the moral question: namely how far an illness should be considered a human disgrace. The protagonist of this story, a young doctor, believes that only characterless people can contract the disease through reprehensible actions. At a meeting in honor of a venereologist, a violent dispute erupts between the doctor who applies moral categories and a colleague who argues more objectively. Two events make the dogmatic young doctor think: his sister marries a syphilitic who has not yet been completely healed, and he himself falls ill as a result of a kiss from a young woman who also suffers from syphilis. But the doctor is healed and reconsiders his previous attitude.