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Who would have guessed that a silent film from nearly a hundred years ago would still be one of the most poignant science fiction films ever created? Proving that story is more important than CGI, Metropolis delivers a stirring film that explores what it means to be human, and sets the stage for every robot/android/clone movie to follow (which happens to be all of them, this movie is so old!).
Newer films hopped up on CGI explosions, gross out violence (I'm talking about you, Starship Troopers) but suffering inane writing should take some lessons from this classic. A movie doesn't need a 100 million dollar budget to be a success (or a massive failure, like Waterworld). What a movie needs is compelling characters who the viewer relates to, and a story that drives them forward. Metropolis has both.
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Magnificent restoration, and a tremendously atmospheric score - couldn't recommend it any more than I do
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So ahead of it's time and not comparable to anything before or since. Did a lot to show people the power of cinema in it's infancy, and to me it still looks incredible some 90+ years later.
The imagination and vision of Lang's skyscraper landscapes and draconion underbelly of poverty as it's hidden foundation speaks just as loudly to today's world as it ever did.
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Kino's Restored Authorized Edition of Metropolis is undoubtedly the most superb restoration of a film ever executed. However, as of July 1st, 2008, this is no longer the most complete version of the film available. Metropolis was originally a 210 minute film which was mercilessly chopped down to an overly simplified 80 minutes. Archivists across Europe worked tirelessly to restore Metropolis to the best of their ability, producing this 124 minute version as a result -- the longest version of Metropolis to date, containing scenes and subplots that don't appear in any other version.
However, it's now been twice verified that a complete 210 minute version of the film (which wasn't supposed to exist) has been discovered in Buenos Aires and is the real thing. This Holy Grail of classic film is in poor condition and will, no doubt, take time to restore, but you can bet that restoration will begin immediately.
The point of all this: If you want to watch Metropolis NOW, then this is the version to get. However, if you're willing to wait, a perfect "Ultimate Edition" will eventually be on the way.
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Fritz Lang created a utopia in which he did not believe. He ended his masterpiece film with a message which he thought hopeless in real society. Over thirty years after the film's completion, he stated in an interview how he envisioned Metropolis: "You cannot make a social-conscious picture in which you say that the intermediary between the hands and the brain is the heart - I mean that's a fairy tale - definitely. But I was very interested in machines." Deeper meaning must lie beneath the surface of this quote, influenced no doubt by the turbulent social, political, and economic climates present in Weimar Germany at the time the film was made. It is impossible to believe that Metropolis was simply a project made by a hobbyist, signifying nothing - which is what a face-value interpretation of this statement would conjure. Lang was making an idealistic statement film - a message to the squabbling masses of how they should act rather than how they are acting. The art, politics, and economic status of German society all played a roll in influencing Metropolis.
Art
World War I marked the end to the first phase of expressionism typified by art groups Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter, and heralded in the comparatively new medium of film as an art form. Major players in the world film scene were beginning to appear in the wartime years of 1914-1918, not the least of which was Hollywood in 1914. Until then, studios had relatively little control over the motion picture industry, films instead being produced by independent artists with limited funds. During wartime, the power of the studio system grew rapidly as film began to take a firm hold on the world as a legitimate form of entertainment. Out of these burgeoning enterprises, the German studio UFA, Universum Film AG, would rise to prominence after its inception in 1917. With the end of the war and the adoption of the Weimar Republic, German artists were once again able to focus attention to their trade. German expressionist painters who were interrupted by the war came back to a world changed by technology. They quickly embraced the medium of film for their own, employing UFA as their main base of operations. Expressionist painting was still fashionable, but the style was giving way to the newer trend of Dadaism, the so-called "anti-art." Film, however, was wide open. As an art form, film had not been explored by neither America nor Germany. Used mainly for escapist entertainment or newsreels, the moving image had hitherto not been used to express the deep emotions and subconscious layers of the human psyche as the canvas had. The Expressionists changed this. In 1919, Robert Wiene created Das Kabinett Des Doktor Caligari, which was more of a moving painting than anything that had come before. The Expressionists had created the world's first art film.
Lang's inspiration has roots in numerous historic events of the time period, as well as social changes and art forms - especially German Expressionism. Indeed, Metropolis is often considered the last silent German Expressionist film; ending a legacy which began with Caligari, and continued on through Nosferatu: Ein Symphonie Des Grauens, Der Mude Tod, Mabuse Der Spieler, Faust, Der Golem, The Hands of Orlac, and Die Strasse, among many others. The art form would continue into the sound era with films like M (1931) and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), both by Lang. Its influence would spread to present day American cinema as well, with clear examples in the stark contrast and expressive lighting of noir and neo-noir films like The Big Sleep (1946) and Sin City (2005), the surreal angles and set design of Night of the Hunter (1955), the dark and brooding plot of Blue Velvet (1986), or the expressive colors and sets of A Clockwork Orange (1971). Metropolis might have been the last great silent German Expressionist film, but it was certainly not the last expressionist film. The elements of Expressionism, which focus on heavy symbolism, abstraction, and the search for a deeper meaning to situations, played a role in Lang's choices as the director of Metropolis. Subtlety was difficult to convey on the silent screen, so to create an effective message film, the director would have to employ some very unsubtle tactics. As an art form, Expressionism is about as unsubtle as possible. Examples of this are the architecture of the city, with laser-like highways streaking across the screen, channeling the Rayonist movement which influenced Expressionist painting, the jagged crosses in the catacombs chapel, and Rotwang's house, which looks like a building straight out of Caligari. Babel reaches into the sky as the tallest object in sight. Even the name is expressive, referencing the biblical parable, and as a result being the embodiment of man's triumph over God. The biblical Babel was destroyed. Lang's is successfully completed - the tallest thing in the city. As far as the technical prowess of the film is concerned, Lang's passion for the project is indicated in the meticulous execution of his special effects and sets. Everything runs smoothly, and considering Metropolis was made in an era which predated most of the special effects techniques we know today, it is one of the most impressive films ever made; on par in terms of technical innovation with some of the greatest films in history, perhaps even Citizen Kane (a film also no-doubt influenced by Expressionism).
The story, too, is highly rooted in expressionist philosophy. The idea of utopia was a staple in the dialogue of Die Brucke, the pioneering art group headed by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and generally considered the beginning of German Expressionism proper. The expressionist philosophy which embraced war in order to bring mankind closer to this ideal utopia is also explored. Metropolis is plunged into chaos when the working class rebels and wreaks havoc on the city, and only then do the people realize the key to unity: a mediator between the two classes. From chaos came order. This is what the painters of Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter hoped would result from World War I, and this is the premise behind the conflict in Metropolis. When Lang professed his disbelief in the film's message in his 1960s interview, it was after the message of Metropolis had been completely disproven. Not only did World War I not create the utopia the expressionists had hoped for, it had made the world far worse. World Was II was the wake-up call for Lang. With over 50 million killed, the war sent as strong a counter message as possible. There could be no mediator; if two groups hate each other enough, there is no force in the world which can stop them from killing each other if that's what they decide they want. Naturally, after witnessing such destruction, Lang would pass the plot of Metropolis off as a fairy tale. Seen through modern eyes, the film does seem overly optimistic for the future of mankind, but professes a future that is highly unlikely. If Lang meant in his quote that he felt this way at the time he made Metropolis, he was lying. At the time, he was as firmly rooted in the fundaments of expressionist thought as Kirchner was.
History
Glorious at the time, tragic in retrospect, the years of 1926 through 1928 saw a dramatic upturn in the German economy - although this resurgence would be short lived. After the crushing inflation of 1924, where a loaf of bread cost as much as one billion marks, the economy began to heal. Optimism was in the air and the dark, morbid atmosphere of Expressionist films of the early decade (Nosferatu, Der Mude Tod, Der Strasse, etc...) changed to decidedly lighter tones. Metropolis was one of several films that shared this feeling of hope. UFA switched focus from horror to epic films, of which Metropolis is more closely akin. Films like Niebelungen and Faust were adaptations of classic literature. It seemed that this new sense of idealism was the death of expressionism as the Germans knew it. Metropolis is a tale of idealism at its most dramatic. Although there is discontent within the working class, the concept of a mediator presents a solution so simple it seems absurd in the light of feasible socioeconomic reality. The middle classes seem content, although the film gives them little notice. The upper classes occupy the Tower of Babel, and are never portrayed, with the exception of the main character Freder, as being unhappy. The plot is an unrealistic account of the maintenance of a utopia. As Lang said, it is a fairy tale. But in the relieved haze of post-inflation Germany, Metropolis seemed like a celebration of ingenuity and German strength. After all, UFA could afford to make the film, reputed to be one of the most expensive silent films ever made. Little did the people know that 1929 would provide yet another disaster - one which would make the inflation of 1924 pale in comparison. The Great Depression ruined Weimar Germany and paved the way for the Nazi takeover. Metropolis, being made three years before the crash, seemed blissfully ignorant. There is no better evidence for this than the message plastered on the promotional posters for the film, which stated, "Metropolis, the city of the future, is the city of eternal peace - the city of cities in which there is no animosity, no hatred, but only love and understanding."
Another strong influence on Metropolis was the contemporary political climate in Germany. The film portrays two social classes, upper and working, who coexist. Each is shown as necessary for the other's survival. The upper class (brain) controls the actions and organization of the working class (hands). Without the brain, the hands are unorganized and chaotic, as evidenced in their climactic riot. The working class in turn keeps the city from shutting down completely. This is evidenced when they destroy the Heart Machine and the power goes out. But these two groups also serve another purpose: they are both allegories for the various political parties in Germany. Near the end of the 1920s, the Weimar Republic had been overwhelmed with several political parties. The SPD (Socializimus Partei Deutschland), the KPD (Kommunizimus Partei Deutschland), and the NSDAP (Nationalsozializimus Deutscher Arbeiter Partei [Nazi Party]), were three among tens if not hundreds of parties warring for power over parliament. The communists are represented here by the working class, who live communally underground. The upper class were synonymous with the Weimar government: the socialist party. Left out was the middle class. In a case of life imitating art, this is what happened in Weimar society as well, at least with the petty bourgeois, who were the main constituents of the Nazi Party. Like in Metropolis, the dramatic polarities between the upper and lower classes provided enough of a distraction for the middle class to go relatively unnoticed. However, the situation in real life allowed the Nazis to come to power through gradual infiltration into the parliament. It would not be until the Great Depression, Hitler's dream come true, that the party would truly break through as the leader. But at the time Metropolis was made, the Nazis were going by relatively unnoticed. They were not nearly as strong as the ruling Socialist Party nor did they have the manpower of the communist party. In an ironic twist of fate the Nazi rule was consummated on the eve of an international disaster - something the early Expressionists philosophized as one of the instrumental steps toward utopia. Instead of a war, it was the great depression which launched Hitler's utopia - something drastically different from the one portrayed in Metropolis. The idea of a mediator is the only allegory for the middle class in Metropolis, and only appears at the end of the film. As was the case in real life, the mediator prevailed over both upper and lower, and took the form of national socialism. This is one reason why Lang believed that the moral behind the film was not realistic. A middle class was capable of keeping the upper and middle classes running synonymously, but this certainly did not produce utopia.
Metropolis was an allegory for where Weimar Germany thought it could go. Envisioned as an idealistic portrait of future society, it turned out to be, as Lang called it thirty years later, a fairy tale. But while unrealistic, it remains one of the most important films in history for its technical prowess and its sheer scale. We remain hopeful even to this day that we may one day live in a city like the one portrayed in the film, but just as much as it was in 1927, this dream seems unreachable. There will always be conflict, whether a mediator is present or not. The ultimate proof of this is in our own minds. The id and superego cannot function without the ego, the mediator, but we as humans are still fundamentally flawed. We would never allow something as tranquil as a culture devoid of animosity. Our naturalistic instinct toward anger is the biggest reason why utopia would never work. We will not evolve into a race without anger because it is the aggressive who prevail in the world, and the process of natural selection will chose those who exude it. The world will keep getting worse, and there will never be a utopia.
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