Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
Direction
Von Trier's controlled chaos—every frame a provocation
Cinematography
Black-and-white bleeding into color like a wound
Sound
Max von Sydow's voice drags you under completely
Director
Lars von Trier
Jean-Marc Barr
Leopold Kessler
Barbara Sukowa
Katharina Hartmann
Udo Kier
Lawrence Hartmann
Ernst-Hugo Järegård
Uncle Kessler
Erik Mørk
Pater
Jørgen Reenberg
Max Hartmann
Henning Jensen
Siggy
Eddie Constantine
Colonel Harris
Max von Sydow
Narrator (voice)
Benny Poulsen
Steleman
Erno Müller
Seifert
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt
Inspector
Holger Perfort
Mr. Ravenstein
Anne Werner Thomsen
Mrs. Ravenstein
Hardy Rafn
Man in Housecoat
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Von Trier filmed actors on black soundstages and composited them into miniature train sets, creating the uncanny artificiality deliberately.
The 'Europa trilogy' (with The Element of Crime and Epidemic) announced the Dogme 95 movement's visual rebellion years before the manifesto dropped.
DK
