Between 1927 and 1928, the dadaist painter and filmmaker Hans Richter use visual experiments in cinema, contravening conventional methods, in order to succeed in making the general public aware of the problems that afflicted the decadent german society between the wars and to carry out in a few minutes a fierce criticism of the capitalist system. One of the most pressing and painful was the loss of savings and galloping impoverishment of the middle and poor layers of society due to such an exaggerated hyperinflation (bills of millions of marks were even printed that they barely managed to pay for products of little value; you had to pay for the drinks exactly when you received them, because if you waited until they were finished they could cost much more; you would buy them with the tickets in carts and as soon as the salaries were collected, because a few hours later they could be worth half or less, etc.) that ended up delivering the majority of german society into the arms of Hitler as a desperate measure of containment.
Richter presents his avant-garde visual statement as "a counterpoint between declining people and growing zeros." It addresses the economic precariousness of the middle layers of a country against currency speculation. Technically, it is a condensed visual collage based on a splendid general montage where uses overlays, double exposures, animations, stop motion, and very short shots of all kinds (close-ups of the faces of impoverished and enriched people by speculation, hands counting money, various products; medium shots of architectural collapses and subjects reading bad news; and general plans of the bag of values or of the city of New York, etc.) that in a metaphorical and non-narrative way end up creating a climax of economic catastrophe.
Originally a silent film, this time it has been synchronized with a semi-noisy soundtrack, called "Le heroe per hazardo" (O.M.), by the group Kinematikom, which on this occasion is made up of:
Samuel Pelaez.......handpan, drums and percussion
Carmen Morales.....prepared piano and noises
JuanLu Montoro.....supercollider
Jose Maria Cuadra....cello
Pablo Guerrero..........tuba
Ortiz Morales...........electric bass, noises and direction
and with the special collaboration of the group of bassoons "Fagotería del Tenllado", directed by Francisco Manuel Puyana.
Recorded in June 2022 in the "Orchestra room" of the Martín Tenllado Conservatory; and mixed and edited at ATI-Gabirol, in July 2022.