Metropolis (1927)

UFA
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm

Fritz Lang's German expressionist film about quarrels between the working class and the wealthy and powerful upper class set in a futuristic world of science fiction can be seen as one of most influential movies, artistically speaking, in the history of the medium of motion pictures. The films story, innovations, style, and lasting impression on filmmakers for the years to come have truly made this particular film a classic that all cinema lovers should make it a point to see.

The film takes you to a world in the future where the lower working class and the powerful upper class are greatly separated literally, economically, and politically in the massive sprawling city named Metroplois. You meet Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), the son of one of the city's managers Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), who grew up in the lap of luxury without a care in the world until he lays eyes on Maria (Brigitte Helm). Maria is a woman that lives in the lower parts of the city with the working class, the class that physically makes the city work. When Maria is sent back to her proper place in the lower levels Freder's infatuation sends him in pursuit of her, like Alice down the rabbit hole. Here he discovers the inner workings of the city and is amazed by how brutal the environment in which the men slave over a giant machine. Freder is appalled when the machine explodes killing dozens of workers and once back to the surface to the building known as the New Tower of Babel he relays what he has seen to his father.

Freder would return to the machine and dress himself in workers clothes and experience first hand the difficult labor the people go through in this lower class. Freder's father is notified of information discovered in the pockets of the dead workers from the accident of a secret meeting place underground and takes scientist, and former rival, Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) to witness the gathering of workers in the city's catacombs. There is discovered Maria preaching to the workers of the separation of upper and lower classes and the coming of the mythical mediator. Freder discovers he is to be the mediator, while Rotwang and Fredersen decide that they with stop this rise in the workers with an invention of Rotwang, the Maschinenmensch, a machine-man that can be transformed to resemble anyone they wish. Rotwang would give machine-man an appearance of Maria, not only to destroy the workers, but unbeknownst to Fredersen, Rotwang will use it to bring down him, as revenge for stealing his beloved from him, the woman that would be Freder's mother.

Rotwang kidnaps Maria and the fake Maria would take her place with Rotwang having her create an uprising of the workers, which is unlike the real Maria's character preaching of a peace between all. The workers uprising destroys the machine that runs the city which in turn floods the lower levels of the city after they storming the above ground city. Upon realizing what they have done they blame Maria for the tragedy, chasing down and killing the fake Maria. They burn her revealing her machine form before her eventual death. The real Maria would be chased down by Rotwang, thinking she is the fake Maria, but Freder would in the end save her, sending the evil Rotwang falling to his death, leaving us with Maria and Freder and the leaders of a new age in the city of Metropolis.

The film was created in the relative peacefully yet economically troubled time for Germany between the two world wars before the rise of the Nazi socialist party. Though the film contain some obvious socialist themes, Lang's intentions were not that, but rather of a futuristic world where the world is more dependent on machines.

In creating a world of tomorrow, Lang had to invent new forms of special effects. His massive city was brought to life with film splicing, paintings, and a new effect which would be named after its inventor called the Schüfftan process. This effect used mintures or paintings spliced into a shot with the use of mirrors and crowds acting through cuts in the mirror to make it look as though the people are living within the model or painting. This effect would be used on a number of shots in the film to give a large scope to the city the film was named after. This effect would be used at times through the twentieth century, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in some of his classics, but would be an abandoned effect with the advent of computer generated imagery (CGI) in the 90s.

Rotwag presenting his creation to Fredersen

Other lasting impressions of the film would be the artistic vision. The city's sprawling look, the Tower of Babel with its biblical symbolism, Rotwang the evil scientist, the menacing machine, and the machine-man all have it imprint in the imaginations of filmmakers and audiences alike. The expressionist feel of the city was a very German element in the film, giving an otherworldly feel to this city, but also makes the audience understand the how obsessed the workers. The art deco New Tower of Babel gives us the idea that this, like the biblical reference, is the biggest building of all and where all was to change in the story. Rotwang, the wild-eyed, white haired, mad scientist is the vision on which all mad scientists would be based on in all of movie history. His crazy mannerisms and eccentric style would inspire the like of the Dr. Frankenstein, his wild hair would even inspire Doc Brown from Back to the Future, and even his one machanical arm would inspire the likes of George Lucas with both of his mechanically limbed Skywalker characters in the Star Wars saga. (How many times have you seen an evil character with a mechanical hand or arm? Well thank this film for that.

The Machine.

The big machine which much of the movie is seen to be based around in one way or another, is given an appearance of almost a monster, manifesting how art decoration gave inanimate objects human like characteristics, giving it life.. And finally the machine-man, perhaps one of the greatest visual characters in movie history, displaying the lifelessness of machine, no matter how human like it is made to appear. Though the movie is in black and white you can tell that this character is a gold colored robot as it blankly stares out at you, used as a device of evil by the mad scientist. This visual would obviously inspire many other robot lookalikes, most notably George Lucas' C-3PO from the Star Wars saga.

The film was the most expensive silent film in history, costing over $5 million, and despite all the hard work and marvelous visuals Lang would hate his work. Despite all the time and effort Lang, who wrote the story with his then wife Thea von Harbou, would not appreciated the socialistic tone of his finished masterpiece. Upon completion he realized the influence his wife had on its underlying tones. Lang, being in awe of the big machines that he invisions for this future world, was not out to send a message and would many times state his dislike of his film despite how loved it was in movie history. His wife eventually became a member of the Nazi party and the two would divorce shortly after. Though a German of Jewish heritage, Lang was called to help produce propoganda for the Nazi effort, however Lang would flee his homeland in fear of the Nazi rise to power and land in Hollywood where he would continue to direct films.

Metropolis is a must see for all enthusiasts of film, especially those who are fond of its vast history. The visuals of this classic silent piece are stunning, and awe inspiring considering the time it was produced. Lang's vision was far greater then what people could imagined before him. The large world in his mind was brought to the screen and would inspire generations of filmmakers and storytellers. To look at movies today we still see inspirations originating from this film, an amazing thing to think about, and that is why this is considered one of the greatest motion pictures of all time.