The Face of Evil

David Tosco
The Face of Evil

Abstract: When we first look at another person, our immediate instinct is to anticipate possible danger. In thus “seeing” another face, our perceptions are influenced by stereotypes about “evil” or “criminal” types that denote a relationship between the physical and the moral. The Face of Evil surveys the long history of attempts to identify and categorize the physiognomy of evil, from the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch to such “sciences” as physiognomics, phrenology, eugenics, and anthropometrics, to latterday notions of criminal anthropology. The film illustrates these dubious efforts through the historical case study of Bruno Lüdke, an alleged serial killer arrested in Germany in 1943 and charged with more than 50 murders. Lüdke was felt by Nazi authorities to have the appearance of a “born criminal,” and became a guinea pig for a series of biological experiments to validate their beliefs in racial categories, of atavistic or degenerate types, a hierarchical ranking of the “Other.” The Face of Evil features excerpts from The Devil Strikes at Night, a 1957 German film dramatization of the Bruno Lüdke story, archival footage and photos, museum artifacts and police archive documents. Numerous sociologists, historians, criminologists, photographers and writers expound on the Lüdke case as well as the work of early theorists of criminology such as François Joseph Gall, César Lambroso, Alphonse Bertillon, and Eugène François Vidocq.

Production Date:
11/12/2006

Distributor:
First Run/Icarus Films
32 Court Street, 21st Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Phone:
718-488-8900

Fax:
718-488-8642

Email / Webpage:
adella@frif.com

http://www.frif.com/new2007/evil.html

Running Time:
52

Medium:
DVD

Film Credits:
Editor: Catherine Gouze; Sound: Guillaume Valeix, Angelo Galeano, Marion Montrup, Laurence Morel, Cosimo Mero et Axel Dossman; Cinematographer: David Tosco

Filmmaker: David Tosco

Keywords: history of visual anthropology, bioethics, criminal justice