Metropolis Film Review

The Machine Man: [disguised as Maria] Let's all watch as the world goes to the devil!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/quotes

There have been many presumed manners of inspiration included in the 1927 film, Metropolis written by Fritz Lang, but none would be so clear from the first viewing as the historical era in which it was created, since it plugs a very prominent role within the film itself. The content itself would be none so assuming beyond fantasy or science fiction (Ebert R, (1998) RogerEbert.com http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927 [4/10/16]), with a formulaic approach to screenplay suiting that of a disaster film. Unless you did the research beyond your first viewing you wouldn’t assume as much from the movie itself, but it turns out there is a lot more than meets the eye in this silent film.

The screenplay was a product of German expressionism (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (2014), Encyclopaedia  Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/Expressionism) during the interwar period, an emotional or dramatically stylised movement that was subject to translation into many other forms, including stagecraft, opera and of course into other such iconic films of the times such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu, that seemed from first impressions to be a macabre gothic style, judging from the cover of these films. In fact, the films do not focus on maintaining a constant fashion but rather intended to convey a sense of fear overall in line with the intentions of the German Expressionist movement. The stylisation of the film in conjunction with the limitations of the cinema at that point gives it a unique flavour to this period. Historical backdrops and sources mention the rise of the Nazi party in 1933 killing off this movement with a mark of degeneracy, reinforced by Hitler. Such inclusion can be very transformative of content and feeling in the resulting product, giving a film a unique retrospective vibe.

The movie has recurring religious backdrops which appear throughout the settings in the film; Rotwang the inventor’s laboratory, which has multiple pentagrams etched into the doors, as well as a large pentagram on the wall in the Machine – man’s setting. Maria appears in a scene with multiple crossing on an altar behind her. There’s even a cathedral with icons of the seven deadly sins, including Death, the eighth deadly sin. Concepts like this give the film Metropolis flavour, introducing aspects of philosophy that expand the universe indirectly (Hansen K, (2009), Film 110 http://film110.pbworks.com/w/page/12610202/Expressionist%20mise-en%20scene%20in%20Metropolis [4/10/16]). There is a clear sense of good of evil highlighted by the use of religion, for example with the characters of Maria, the Machine- Man, and Rotwang. Every part of the film serves a purpose that is utilised by this mechanic within the film. Symbolism and metaphors have been used to their utmost, giving each scene every sense of the word interpretation. As a result the shots of this film have been praised as a part of its narrative.

Things which could be found disagreeable about this film are small and nit-picky but still distracting. Sometimes the acting is cheesy or strange looking, probably as a result of having no spoken dialogue. This is a large association with all German Expressionist films of that era, and could be easily disregarded since it compensates for a lack of action on screen. However, I also found that the amount of characters on screen could be very barebones in nature with each one developing the plot further without any individual backgrounds. It could have been necessary to know for the sake of curiosity where they came from, like whether Maria was a woman in the worker’s city beforehand, or if she actually came from aboveground and was a bred aristocrat before finding out about the underground area. There a lot of missing areas around the city which would have been interesting to know more about, even in minor dialogue.

To conclude I think that as a pioneer in the science –fiction genre this film was definitely a winner, but as a retrospect in combination with the downfall of that movement the film is not as good as the modern eyes could say it would be. The narrative is inferior to its presentation, possibly as a result of the Expressionists desire to bring emotion over content, and as a result of that the film seems romantic or whimsical in nature rather than in keeping with the natures of the city itself. This is probably the reason the film Metropolis produced so many tropes as part of the inspiration taken to other newer science fiction genre orientated screenplays. The symbolism and shots produced were good to keep the lore of the city working to the narrative, and would be one of the highlights of the film for a cinephile. While metropolis is a cult classic, with an interesting background, inspirations and setting, to the modern viewer it is not much more than cheesy novelty due to the exaggerated nature of its presentations.