A review of the classic 1927 film “Metropolis”
This black and while silent movie was directed by the great Fritz Lang in Weimar Germany and is regarded as the first science fiction epic with huge sets, thousands of extras, and groundbreaking effects. Set in a dystopian future, it depicts a city with the rich above ground in great skyscrapers and the masses labouring below ground on massive and dangerous machinery.
A central role is performed by Maria (Brigette Helm) who is both a saintly figure preaching conciliation and a robot inciting the workers to rebellion. She is assisted and saved by Freder (Gustav Frolich), the pampered son of the Master of the Metropolis. The film’s message is encompassed in the final intertitle: “The Mediator Between the Head [the Master] and the Hands [the workers] Must Be the Heart [Freder]”.
At the time of its release, “Metropolis” was controversial and a box office disaster. Consequently, it was cut substantially after its German premiere. Therefore, over the years, the film has been shown at different lengths and with different sound tracks. It was the subject of a major restoration in 2010, so the version now exhibited runs to 149 minutes and is very close to the original work.
I’ve seen it several times and regard it as a flawed masterpiece: visually stunning and inventive, but with exaggerated acting and an overly simplistic message. However, its future status is secure and, in 2001, the film was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register, the first film to be so distinguished.