“Head and hands require a mediator. The mediator between the head and hands must be the heart.”
Metropolis is a futuristic city, ruled by its wealthy creater Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel). His son Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) discovers the underground dwelling of its disadvantage class of workers while looking for a beautiful woman he saw, witnesses a tragic explosion at their workspace, and becomes aware of the great disparity between Metropolis’ wealthy and poor classes. The workers’ inspirational leader, a young woman named Maria (Brigitte Helm), tells the workers that there can one day be a peaceful co-existence between the classes. In an effort to prevent his son from getting close to the workers, Joh Fredersen enlists a mad inventor/scientist named Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) to kidnap Maria, implant her likeness onto an android named Machine-Man that Rotwang has created, and use the impostor to keep the workers’ under his thumb. Freder and the real Maria must intervene and save the workers from themselves.
Though Metropolis is in part an obvious depiction of the rise of communism during that time period in world history; one woman in bright colored clothing (think: red) leading a sea of workers dressed in a contrasting, monotone dark color to fight the upper-class “machines” (read: Industrialists), it is also a fascinating film to consider in a modern context, simply because the general theme has not changed much in the decades since its release. It is a film about a society with two socioeconomic extremes: one elite class, living about the surface with access to enormous wealth and privilege, and an overworked underclass, whose labor is exploited and under-compensated while they’re banished into environments that are underdeveloped and segregated from the larger, more well-off class. Director Fritz Lang has considered a world where a populist uprising might arise while we contemplate the same in our own lives currently. The tactics Joh Fredersen uses to quell the uprising also ring true today; manipulating circumstances so that the workers will act out in a way that will justify his planned use of force against them. All of these things are reminiscent of the issues of today, from the income inequality and disparity to the use of provoked force from the mistreated underclass as an excuse to use force in response. The film is a confirmation that the struggles of our time have existed in some form or another for decades.
Metropolis also displays how populist anger can be manipulated for the ends of manipulators with nefarious intent. When converting Machine-Man into a clone of Maria, Rotwang promises to use the android to quell the uprising of the workers. Instead, he uses it for his own means, using the android to inspire the workers to turn into a violent force that will upend society. This too could serve as an allegorical look into our current events in our own society. Over the course of 2016 and 2017, increasing anger over the plight of the non-upper class in American society has been blamed for a growing embrace of the authoritarian throughout our politics. Whether several modern politicians have used this anger at inequality to manipulate the masses for their own gain has been an allegation leveled at many, up to and including the current President of the United States. This film shows how easily those that are suffering can have their justifiable rage manipulated and weaponized for the benefit of those that claim to want to help but merely wish to use the discontent of the masses to achieve their own goals.
The production design is extremely impressive for its time, with the legacy of the Machine-Man’s design on cinema being plainly obvious from the first time you see it. To see what has now become the prototypical android in 1927 must have been breathtaking and its obvious why Metropolis’ reputation has become what it has become. The sprawling skyline and architecture of the fictional city is also decades ahead of its time from a production standpoint, still conveying a sense of grandeur and wonder 90 years after the debut of the film. Scenes like the evacuation of the flooding city during the film’s third act would be challenging even in today’s movie industry, making Lang’s execution of it nearly one century ago all the more breathtaking. Metropolis also features a grandiose, epic score that accentuates the scenes with which we’re presented on screen, bringing across the tension and tone for each scene that are portrayed through dialogue and sound in modern film.
The film’s cinematography provides visuals that stand the test of time, most notably Maria’s transformation scene where she is converted into the Machine-Man. Using visual effects that wouldn’t become commonplace for another three or four decades, the viewer is treated with one of the first glimpses of what would become a science fiction standard; the mad scientist utilizing advanced electronic power to create something part man and part machine. Another standout is the chase scene through the catacombs of Metropolis where Rotwang pursues Maria in total darkness save for his flashlight. The camerawork and use of light make for a great shot that would stand up with most of what we see in present time. Freder’s descent into madness after finding Machine-Maria and his father, with the flashing lights, spinning camera, and shot of him physically falling into a dark abyss also seemed far ahead of its time, reminiscent of the work seen in the depiction of the sunken place in Jordan Peele’s Get Out just this year. I also loved the point-of-view tracking shot of Freder’s hand as he discovers a torn piece of Maria’s clothing in Rotwang’s lair, indicating that she’s close by. This shot is simple yet effective and presented in a way that lasts throughout the decades of film that have occurred since its creation.
Metropolis is a masterpiece that is amazingly ahead of its time, particularly visually. The story is engaging and timeless with a score to match. The two-and-a-half-hour silent film somehow never drags, keeping the viewer engaged throughout. Some of the techniques utilized by Fritz Lang would stand out even today amidst the advanced technology that is available. If the goal of film-making is to make a piece of art that pushes the medium forward and also stands the test of time, Metropolis reached the pinnacle a long time ago.
Image: F.W. Murnau Foundation
