Der Kaiser von Kalifornien

In my opinion, Der Kaiser von Kalifornien is more of a Trenker film than it is a Western or a Nazi film, although this is not to say that it doesn’t also have characteristics of the other categories. Der Kaiser von Kalifornien has many of the aesthetic and thematic qualities of Westerns, not to mention being located in the western United States. It also demonstrates some anti-American views, similar to those shown in Der Verlorene Sohn. The Americans are loud, greedy, cut-throat, and disloyal to the people who had previously helped them. Yet the characteristics which make it a Trenker film are the strongest of all. Although the flat lands of the American West are far different from the snowy mountains of Trenker’s homeland and many of his other movies, there are still three scenes which distinctly show the struggle of Stutter against mountainous backdrops. The first happens when he scales the stairs of the town cathedral and at the peak, as he’s about to throw himself off, an angel comes to him and starts him on his journey to America. The second is when he and the other two men are climbing over sand dunes. Because sand dunes like these are nowhere to be found in Kansas, where they allegedly are, I have to believe that this creative choice of geography must be to once again show the protagonist struggling on the steep sandy slopes. The last is when he walks up the steps of the Capitol in Washington. Once again, the angel comes to him and congratulates him on having come so far, but also tells him that he must stop struggling against the gold and the change the country is experiencing. Clearly, Der Kaiser von Kalifornien is an excellent example of the Trenker film type.