Review: Metropolis

Metropolis was made in 1927 in Germany by famed director Fritz Lang. The screenplay was written by his wife of the time, Thea von Harbou. It's old-school black and white and silent. So it's not the kind of fare most of us are used to.

One of the first interesting things about the movie, is that while most Science Fiction films can be slated as "Tech Noir" (Tech is bad) or "Tech Blanc" (Tech is good), this movie is very much Tech Neutral. There isn't a big pro or con either way. The technology simply is.

Instead, it focuses on the strains between the Haves, and the Have Nots. However, it also had an additional moral, that gets beaten into the viewer: The Mediator between the Hands and Head must be the Heart. This moral is announced roughly every 15 minutes or so. Subtlety, a German strength it is not.

But, the movie was actually very good in terms of story. It surprises me that no one has done a remake. The story surrounds young Freder, the son of the leader of Metropolis. He lives "topside" with the all the other rich people. Life is good. He gets a different pretty woman every day, food and sunshine are plenty, and is a reflection of all the upper businessmen of the time.

He, like most of the Haves, gives no thought to the Worker class that slave and toil away to keep the machines working to provide paradise to Metropolis' masters. At least, not until a lovely young worker woman appears with a slew of children, giving a stirring speech about how these youngsters should "look upon their brothers" and see the hedonist, carefree lifestyle they live, and that they should hope someday that the Haves will, in fact, accept them as brothers. As she and the children disappear back into the bowels of the city.

Young Freder, instantly enamoured, chases after our young mystery woman (Maria) where he discovers the plight of the worker class, as well as the fact that his beloved is a prophetess. She has foretold the coming of one who will bring peace and happiness to everyone.

I don't want to go any further, so as not to spoil the plot.

The story, while lagging in areas, was very good, and despite the length, kept the viewer interested through most of it. The dialogue cards were a little on the "meh" side, but considering that you don't have a natural dialogue system, and everything has to be handled on a card or two, it's clearly a necessary evil.

The special effects were, for the time, actually quite amazing, and the attention to detail is great. Watching the workers at the machines, they were not just moving pieces, but moved in a carefully choreographed movement that was actually beautiful to watch.

The acting was a little overdone, even for a silent movie though. But this did little to detract from my interest in the film. With it being a silent film, a lot can be forgiven seeing as exaggerated gestures were the best thing they had for conveying emotion.

All in all, if you can dig up this movie somewhere, watch it. Much of the original footage has been lost, but the story is still comprehensible. The version I watched included extra text frames explaining what has happened in the areas you miss.

A truly enjoyable movie, and one that I would love to see revamped and rebooted for the modern era of talkies and color.

It was, given it's origins in Germany, hard to watch on some levels though. While the director was at least partially Jewish, his wife was a supporter of the Nazi party. Given that the actors were German, I could not help but think "So.... Over the next 20 years, how many of you are going to do some very bad things..."

Interesting how an event that holds little personal significance for me (WWII) could still bring about such an uncomfortable feeling when I watch anything with Germans in it from that era.