Metropolis - Film review

Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) is a silent era sci-fi film following Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) who witnesses the the world of the poor workers struggling to keep his rich and carefree lifestyle afloat.

Fig.1

Freder leaves his futuristic utopia after a woman brings a group of poor children into it, and although she is quickly ushered back out he still gains strong feelings for her and heads down into the working class's world and witnesses first hand what they go through and then becomes determined to bring together the two sides of the working class and the elite.The working class get by their day-to-day with the promises of a mediator, the promise of such being the only thing stopping them from revolting, "[...] nightmare about a city-state built on slave labour, whose prosperity depends on suppressing a mutinous underground race whose insurrectionist rage is beginning to bubble" (Bradshaw 2010) 

Fig.2

The design difference between the upper city and the lower city helps to cement the difference between the two classes, with the upper city being loud and bright and full of wonder whilst the lower city is dark and dull, full of identical buildings.There is a lot of biblical references in the film, both subtle and direct ones, such as when Maria (Brigitte Helm) tells the masses of workers the story of the Tower of Babel, "I do not want to suggest that Lang intended Metropolis as a religious allegory; that is not the point at all. Rather, Lang understood the power of symbols, especially symbols relating to subjects close to the viewer's heart, such as politics, economics. . . and religion." (Wharton 2003)

Fig.3

The film is seen as a social commentary about the power imbalance that is still rife between the working class and the elite, and shows how little the working class are cared about, "The film’s social preoccupations have been described as a commentary on the political situation that existed in Germany at the time, but also served as a warning of where Germany was heading in the future." (Filmeducation 2010)

Bibliography:

Images:

Figure 1, Poster (1927) [poster] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolisposter.jpg (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Figure 2, Film still (1927) [film still] At: https://source.wustl.edu/2011/11/cities-of-the-future-film-series-dec-6-7-and-8/ (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Figure 3, Film still (1927) [film still] At: https://www.kinolorber.com/film/view/id/1162 (Accessed on 22 October 2017)

Quotes: 

David Wharton (2003) At: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/crucified-to-the-machine-religious-imagery-in-fritz-langs-metropolis/ (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Filmeducation (2010) At: http://www.filmeducation.org/metropolis/pdf/Metropolis_Themes_and_context.pdf (Accessed on 14 October 2017)

Peter Bradshaw (2010) At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/09/metropolis-restored-film-review (Accessed on 22 October 2017)