Some films are truly revolutionary. Citizen Kane, Jaws, Gone with the Wind, and even Avatar changed people's ideas of what movies can be and do. However, I have to argue that the first film to really accomplish this on a large scale is Fritz Lang's 1926 masterpiece Metropolis. You might not have heard of this film, but you probably recognize it's iconic robotic woman. Sure it's a silent film, so what? The scale of this movie was unmatched for it's time. The sets are enormous and incredibly detailed, the special effects were decades ahead of their time, and the film used over 25,000 extras. Metropolis is the first great science-fiction movie, and so many films to this day owe a great deal to what it achieves, including, Blade Runner, Gattaca, The Fifth Element, Escape from L.A., The Bride of Frankenstein, and even Dr. Strangelove.
Before we get into the film itself, some history. After the film's initial release in Germany, it was cut and censored drastically. Since then it was believed that over a quarter of the film had been lost. In 2008 an almost complete version, nearly half an hour longer than any other known copy, was found in Buenos Aries, Argentina. This copy was sent to Germany for restoration, and splicing with copies of better condition. There are still a few moments that are missing from this restored version, but not enough for Lang's original intentions to be lost.
The film is about a futuristic city, the titular Metropolis, and the two worlds that inhabit it in the year 2026. On the surface there live the wealthy members of society, who spend their days in gardens, skyscrapers, and stadiums, In the city's underground, live the working class. The people who's job it is to keep the machines running that power the great city. Because the two worlds are separated, most of the residents of Metropolis are unaware of their counterparts, including the film's hero Freder Fredersen son of Joh Fredersen, the man who runs the city. One day, Freder sees a beautiful woman from the depths of the city. He tries to follow her, but ends up getting lost in the labyrinthine machine halls of the underground city. Here Freder sees the plight of his fellow man as they toil away to keep the machines running, sacrificing their bodies and well being. Freder wants to help the workers and trades places with one of them. At the end of the work day Freder follows the other workers deeper into the catacombs, where they receive preaching from Maria, the beautiful woman Freder had seen earlier on the surface. Maria speaks of a day when a mediator will come to free them from the tyranny of the machines. Meanwhile, Joh Fredersen has become suspicious of his son's behavior and sends a spy to find out what he is up to. The spy discovers that Freder has gone underground, and when Joh goes underground and sees Maria preaching about a peaceful resolution to the worker's suffering. Joh then gets the idea to enlist the help of an inventor and his recently completed robot, or Machine Man, which can take the form of any person. Joh tells the inventor to give the robot Maria's appearance so that it may undo what Maria has taught and stir the worker's into a violent rebellion. Freder and the real Maria then must quell the worker's violence before they destroy the city.
What really shines through here is Lang's commitment to achieving his vision. His mania for control makes Stanley Kubrick look benign. The thousands of extras were forced to stand in cold water for hours at a time and were handled more like props than people, the heroine of the film was made to jump from high places, and in a scene where she is burned at the stake, Lang used real fire. Lang's treatment of his actor's probably wasn't worth the end result, but it certainly was effective.
What stands out the most in this film are the immense sets and amazing special effects. Both are still impressive today, and they must have really amazed audiences 85 years ago. One must also keep in mind that these effects were done without computers and were all either done in camera, or painstakingly hand drawn into each frame in post-production. Sure, everyone in this film is overacting, but that was the norm for silent films, every facial expression had to be exaggerated so a character could communicate without being heard. There are also several logical problems with the film, as the plot seems to jump about. Is it a love story? A story about the evils of capitalism? A story about the importance of organized labor? Is it about the relationship between father and son? Is it about the role of christianity in modern society? There are touches of all of these themes, but the movie never really picks one and sticks to it. One wonders if these logical issues are due to the large amount of editing this film went under after it left Lang's hands. Ultimately though, the issues with the plot are minor, the film's visual strengths sweep away such concerns. The version I watched also had an incredibly stirring soundtrack, which originally would've been either played by a live orchestra at the theatre, or by a synchronized recording. The film's pacing is also superb as it does not drag for even a second and the films two and a half hour runtime feels no longer than your average 90-100 minute film. I highly recommend you check out this film yourself. It is currently on Netflix streaming. Bear in mind that in the infancy of cinema, just about everything in this film is original, including the set designs which now would seem cliché. After viewing this film you will be hard-pressed not to see its influence in modern science-fiction movies.
Rating: 9.5/10 - Enlightened
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