Ludwig is the first part of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's “German Trilogy,” which culminated in the 7-hour epic Our Hitler--A Film From Germany. Like Hitler, the film makes brilliant use of front-projection techniques to present a series of “chapters” from the inner life of a German leader whose philosophy and world view embody a summation of Germanic culture and myth. Twenty-eight chapters from the life of Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845-1866) add up to what Syberberg calls “a summary of the Germany of the 19th century as experienced by the Germany of 1972.” Syberberg presents Ludwig as a sort of tortured witness of future times, with culture changing into barbarism, the Bismarckian state into totalitarianism, Wagner into the trivial music of the thirties.