Traumulus: A heavy, dusty look at crumbling authority

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that feel like they’ve been sitting in a basement for eighty years, sure. This isn’t a popcorn flick. It’s a slow-burn study of a man watching his own moral compass snap in half. If you hate slow dialogue and people staring intensely into middle distance, skip it. If you like 1930s German cinema that feels like a heavy wool blanket, you’ll probably find something to chew on here.

Emil Jannings is basically the whole show. He plays this principal with such thick, self-important gravity that you almost believe his version of reality, even when it’s clearly nonsense. Watching him deal with the collapse of his reputation is… well, it’s uncomfortable. Like watching a balloon slowly leak air.

Odd moments that stuck

There’s this scene in the classroom where the light hits the chalkboard just right, and it looks like the guy is teaching in a tomb. It’s a nice touch, intentional or not. The way he paces around the school halls, you can tell he thinks he’s the king of a very small, very boring castle.

• The nightclub scenes feel weirdly staged, like a stage play trying to pretend it’s a den of iniquity.
• The suicide part happens so fast it’s almost jarring. It’s like the movie realized it needed a plot point and just hit the gas.
• Jannings’ mustache deserves its own billing, honestly.

I couldn't help but compare the rigid, stifling vibe of the school to the suffocating atmosphere in The Scarlet Letter. Both are obsessed with people who think they know what’s best for everyone else. It’s a recurring theme in these older films, isn't it? The belief that you can keep reality out if you just close the blinds tight enough.

The film doesn't really try to be likable. It just wants to be heavy. It’s got that stern, pre-war German outlook where everyone is either being noble or falling apart. Sometimes both at once. It’s not subtle. It doesn't want to be.

I found myself drifting off a bit during the long speeches in the faculty lounge. A lot of back-and-forth about duty and honor that doesn't really go anywhere. But then, every time the camera cuts back to the principal’s face, you’re sucked back into his misery. It’s a strange, dusty little movie. Not a masterpiece, but definitely not something you just glance at and forget.