Freiheit

Freiheit (1966)

*** (out of 4)

Good early short film from director George Lucas, which he made while being a student at USC. In the film, we see a boy (Randal Kleiser) running but from what we're not sure of at the start. We see him continuing to run when we realize that he's trying to get his freedom by going from East Germany and crossing over to West. For the most part this is a pretty good three-minute short, which certainly has a message to get across and the director is able to do that even with the short running time. I thought the cinematography was quite good throughout and Lucas really managed to build up a little tension. The use of the voices at the end was very effective as well. Fans of the director will certainly want to check this one out.

Any Lucas fan worth his salt will want to check out this embryonic piece detailing the failed attempt of a boy to escape from unknown pursuers; presumably representatives of a repressive "empire". It is noteworthy that even at this stage of his career, Lucas was fascinated by war. The bitter disillusionment expressed here provides a sharp contrast to the cheerful optimism and good-triumphs-over-evil ending of the Star Wars trilogy. The symbolic desire for freedom here could equally apply to freedom of the imagination, an autonomy Lucas has always sought from studios in producing his work.

"So of course freedom is worth dying for, because without freedom, we're dead."

Freiheit is the first short film from George Lucas where I feel like his main focus was writing. Especially the themes and somewhat character. Dialogues were pulled from recordings. I wasn't a fan of the score and sound design, but it was interesting for sure and I understand that in 1966 it was not easy to mix sound. The editing is good, except for one scene, where it's great. The cinematography introduces slow motion, which I haven't seen George Lucas do in his short films before, which also goes for the use of miniatures and matte paintings (in the opening titles). On the other hand I don't exactly know what the correct order is, since there aren't exact release dates for these shorts.

George Lucas was going through making short films with deep meanings!! This one is just classic!! It's about German WW2 and a boy trying to escape Germany but is Shot down, in a gory manner!!

I have not seen the complete movie, just the final minute available at USC website. It pretty much looks like an early version of "Electronic Labyrinth" (1967), and perhaps an early thought on the final moments of "THX 1138" (1971). It has never been clear to me what happens to THX after he goes to the surface. Like in this little short movie, you sympathize all the time with the quest for freedom of the main character, even if you don't know exactly what he is running from. In "Labyrinth" and "THX", you are not sure if he succeeds. In "Freiheit", it is clear what happens. May be the most interesting Lucas student film, after "Electronic Labyrinth".