Metropolis – 1927- Director Fritz Lang

Metropolis, a silent science fiction film set in the futuristic city of Metropolis, a robust city buzzing with prosperity and technology. Skyscrapers, flying cars, monorails, it’s all there, but Metropolis has a dark side. Deep below the shiny façade of Metropolis lays a mechanical beast. Huge gears, motors, cogs and lights that are constantly demanding the attention of a human’s touch. The sets used in this film are creative and add emphasis to the uneasy, futuristic feel of the movie, the shots and angles are well coordinated and make for effective imagery throughout the film. The monotonous tone of the workers slowly but rhythmically shuffling their feet into and out of the machines, visually depicting individuals becoming products of the machine remains a relatable and effective tool that resonates well into modern day.

Metropolis stands as a city divided, Workers man the machines and live below the city, they turn the knobs and bolts, remain poor even though they work 10 hour shifts drenched in manual labor; they are not seen as individuals but as replaceable parts of the machine. Then there are the Suits, white collar, business types that live a much different life, they have money, they are clean, well dressed and live in a state of fear, fear that they may be demoted to a worker status. The one thing the that these two groups share is the fact that they are all are under the command of one very powerful man, Joh Fredersen, the pseudo king of Metropolis. The separation of rich and poor is so vast that Fredersen’s own son Freder is completely unaware of the conditions the workers live in and finds himself in the belly of the beast after falling victim to temptation upon seeing an attractive young lady whom he attempts to follow. Freder’s unexpected visit to the machines is eye opening, as he witnesses workers sacrifice their lives to the seemingly blood thirsty machine. The special effects used in this particular scene of the machine taking on a demonic form and eating sacrificed workers to relieve pressure must have been terrifying in 1927, not so much in 2013 but still very impressive and effective for the time.  After witnessing such a disastrous event Freder pleads to his father to do something about the workers conditions but refuses to take any action. Freder’s compassion towards the workers overwhelms him and he vows to take action however possible all the while attempting to get closer to that enticing woman. Freder goes back down to the machines and takes the place of one of the workers and discovers a paper with a map.  Joh Fredersen takes notice of his son’s actions and has him followed, discovering the same map that his son found, Fredersen seeks the advice of an inventor named Rotwang. The map leads to the discovery of a brewing revolution by the workers that are being lead by Freder’s love interest, Maria who insists to the workers that a mediator will arrive shortly to help bring solidarity between the two groups and insists that they remain patient. Joh Fredersen insists to Rotwang that he must make his newest invention, the Machine-Human, resemble the likeness of Maria and destroy her reputation amongst the workers. Rotwang uses Joh Fredersen’s moment of weakness against him and implements his own sinister plan to destroy Freder. Maria is kidnapped and is subjected to an electro shock procedure in Rotwang’s lab that replicates her appearance onto the Machine-Human. At this point there is another interesting use of concept and imagery, the use of geometric compositions in the frame provide a very surgical and precise tone during the transformation of the robot into human; it is intense and suspenseful, full of flashes and special effects. Shortly after the transformation is complete chaos ensues as Rotwang’s plan starts to come to fruition. The workers are raised into frenzy because of robot Maria’s speech inciting the workers to revolt and destroy the machines, the workers indulgently start to destroy and dismantle the Heart of the Machine leading to a back up of pressure that begins to flood the chambers of the machine along with the streets of the underground. Amongst the chaos Freder and the real Maria gather the children of the workers and abandon the crumbling city just in time. Freder and Maria are met by the enraged crowd and assure them that their children are safe, and redirect crowd’s rage towards the robot Maria who mislead the workers in the first place. The crowd finds the robot Maria and burns her at the stake like a witch, revealing her robot body to everyone. This is the point of the film where the pace of the movie really picks up and provides emphasis to the rushing of the ongoing mob rule of destruction. Freder ends up fighting Rotwang at the top of a building, where Rotwang eventually loses his balance and falls to his death. Freder serves his purpose as mediator and reveals the final message of the story, the interpreter between the head and the hands is the heart; the head being the father, the hands being the workers and the heart being Freder.

This film was interesting for many reasons, while dealing with science fiction themes that seem to tap into our imaginations such as human eating machines and human-like robots, Metropolis also addresses social dilemmas such as large financial gaps between the rich and poor, how the poor are treated in social settings along with the ramifications of a mob rule social uprisings. The story of Metropolis taps into social and technological fears, which holds prevalent and thought provoking to this very day. Metropolis is abstract while remaining tangible, it provokes the imagination while staying planted in reality, it plays perfectly with the science fiction theme of taking something too far, bending it until it breaks and dealing with the aftermath.