One Hundred Years Later

In 1939, a second unit shot scenes for »Mr. Smith Goes to Washington« in the Lincoln Memorial with a double and extras. The long, orderly planned sequences undermine the classic cinematic narration; the plot seems to stagnate. The neoclassical architecture becomes the setting for a recurring ritual: the inconspicuous protagonist loses himself between the columns and often pauses in front of the monumental Lincoln, as if he himself was becoming a

• Christoph GirardetDirector