A visual symphony, since it’s silent, though presumably there would have been live accompaniment. This is a poignant documentary about a great city on the cusp of disaster, still vibrant, confident, and democratic in 1927. Six years later would come the Nazis, followed by bombing and occupation. Each unknown actor in this drama is a unique human being with their own hopes and fears, loves and hates – my heart goes out to them all, even as I wonder how many of those faces turned to Hitler. Does it matter in 1927, when the going was good, and the good could comfortably remain so? I see it as a mirror held up to our own self-satisfaction, tempered as it is by economic woes.