For the Rights of Man: A window into some very ugly history

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Only if you are a total nerd for film history or someone studying how propaganda works in the real world. If you are looking for a Saturday night movie, stay far away. You will probably hate it if you have any soul left, but history buffs might find it worth a look just for the sheer audacity of the filmmaking.

Watching For the Rights of Man is a strange experience. It is so stiff that it almost feels like a documentary about how to act like a cartoon villain. The Freikorps guys are presented as these heroic, misunderstood martyrs. Meanwhile, everyone else is just a caricature of a communist or a weak bureaucrat.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of For the Rights of Man (1934) through its definitive frames.

The vibe is... aggressive.

The pacing is genuinely exhausting. It moves from one shouting match to another, with very little room to actually breathe. There’s a scene early on where a group of veterans are just staring out a window, and the music swells like they are watching the sun rise. In reality, they are probably just planning to go break some windows.

The cinematography is surprisingly competent for a film this old, which is part of why it's so unsettling. It has that clean, sharp look you see in Gamla stan or some of the better-shot dramas of that era, but it’s all being used to sell a complete lie. It’s a weird feeling, watching something that looks "good" while knowing exactly what kind of rot it’s trying to promote.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of For the Rights of Man (1934) through its definitive frames.

• Hans Pössenbacher looks like he’s trying to hold in a sneeze in every single close-up.
• The street fight choreography is about as realistic as a playground scuffle.
• I swear the same background extra appears in four different scenes in different uniforms.

There is no subtlety here. None. It’s like being hit over the head with a sledgehammer for two hours straight. It reminds me a little bit of the forced earnestness you find in Children of Destiny, but with way more swastikas and way less charm. You can almost feel the director, Hans Zöberlein, sweating through his shirt trying to make these thugs look like gentlemen.

I found myself zoning out during the long speeches. They are so wordy and repetitive. Halfway through, I realized I hadn't been paying attention to the plot at all, and I didn't even care. The movie just drones on like a bad lecture you’re forced to attend.

It is worth noting that if you’re used to modern historical epics, this will feel like a ghost story. It’s dusty, it’s angry, and it’s deeply uncomfortable. Not because it’s scary, but because you’re looking at a piece of work designed to turn people into monsters. Watch with caution, or don't watch at all.