Film Review - Metropolis

Metropolis (1927), is an ambitious science-fiction film directs by Fritz Lang. It was made seven years after The Cabinet of Dr Calagari, and it's amazing how quickly technology has progressed over less than a decade. Camera shots are more ambitious, compared to Caligari, which has a completely static camera throughout the whole film. The production design is extremely extravagant, with special effects (such as a whole town flooding, or explosions in the undercity) as well as interesting environments which definitely show an influence from Robert Wiene's work in Calagari.

The film begins illustrating the idea of an undercity and an overcity, with the undercity being a place full of the machinery which keeps the luxurious overcity working. The workers in the undercity are treated like slaves, whereas the others in the overcity have a life of relaxation. Maria is the woman that gives the men of the undercity hope, preaching to them in secret, unknown to Joh Fredersen, who is the master of Metropolis. Freder, who is Fredersen's son, decides it's unfair for the people of the undercity to be slaves, and he meets Maria, who shares his ideas. Meanwhile, Fredersen and Rotwang the scientist work together to bring the undercity to its knees. After the conflict between the undercity and the overcity, the film concludes positively, showing both sides resolving their differences and agreeing to work together.

The differences between Calagari and Metropolis are profound, but there are also some similarities. They both make use of warped perspective in their environments. Although Calagari definitely pushes that perspective a lot more, the influence in Metropolis is very obvious, shown by a comparison of shots from the film below.

Fig 1: Metropolis

Fig 2: Calagari 

Described as the "most innovative and influential figure in movie history" (French, 2010), Metropolis has some real-world parallels that reflect the stance of society in the 1920's. Maria is a very sexualised figure in the film, starting off as stereotypically 'pure', before she is replaced by Rotwang's robot, where she is portrayed as incredibly tainted, as shown by a scene where dancing provocatively in front of crowds of men. The fact that the fake Maria has to act in this way to be shown as 'evil' says a lot about the view on women in the 1920's. Not only this, but there is also a reflection of political topics: in the film, the city is led by just one dictator, Fredersen, who doesn't necessarily know of the best way to lead this society he has created, evident by the fact that "Fredersen out-and-out encourages an angry mob to destroy his own city" (Abrams, 2010). This seems slightly similar to how Germany has been led in the past, where the mass has been controlled by a few select people.

Fig. 3

Although there are a lot of parallels between Calagari and Metropolis, "Lang develops this story with scenes of astonishing originality" (Ebert, 1998). It has a bit of everything in it: robots, explosions, action, and a dystopian, futuristic city. Although the story can be a bit confusing at times, especially with some lost footage, the effects and environment of the movie are certainly very stunning, and Metropolis was, without a doubt, one of the most influential (and expensive) films of its time.

Bibliography

Abrams, S. (2010). "Metropolis". In: slantmagazine [online] Available at: (https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/metropolis)

Ebert, R. (1998). "Metropolis". In rogerebert [online] Available at: (http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927)

French, P. (2010). "Metropolis". In: The Guardian [online] Available at: (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/12/metropolis-fritz-lang-review)

Illustration List

Fig. 1 - http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/graphics/metro94.jpg

Fig. 2 - http://www.cinemas-online.co.uk/images/caligaristage.jpg

Fig. 3 - https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b6/78/ec/b678ece88e7303022b4e38212c883aae--metropolis--fiction-movies.jpg