Shell Shock Cinema

Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War is a 2009 book by the German film studies scholar Anton Kaes [de]. It argues that the German trauma of World War I had a major impact on cinema of the Weimar Republic and is expressed also in famous films that do not depict the war. These include The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Die Nibelungen and Metropolis, which Kaes does close readings of.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

The book received the Limina Award for Best International Film Studies Book from the University of Udine's Film Forum conference.^[5]

References

^ Elswit, Kate (12 August 2012). "Afterimages of Trauma: Anton Kaes's 'Shell Shock Cinema'". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
^ Fritzsche, Peter (2010). "Review of Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War". Modernism/modernity. 17 (4): 941–943. doi:10.1353/mod.2010.0026.
^ Horak, Jan-Christopher (2011). "Review: Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War by Anton Kaes; Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era, ed. Noah Isenberg". Film Quarterly. 64 (4): 76–77. doi:10.1525/FQ.2011.64.4.76.
^ Hales, Barbara (2022). "Review of Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War". German Studies Review. 35 (1): 183–184. doi:10.1353/gsr.2012.a465686.
^ "Limina award: 2010". Film Forum. Retrieved 20 February 2026.