If there ever is to be a film made claiming that it would still apply to the present times of 100 years from now, I would point to the nearest copy of Metropolis and say “it has already been done.”
Metropolis was the world’s first ever science fiction film; It was made in 1927 by master German filmmaker Fritz Lang. The gigantic silent film ran at a full length of 3 and a half hours and for the first time showed audiences all over the world the true power of cinema. The film succeeded in bringing together the power of the “head” (story, themes and undercurrents) and the power of the “hands” (set design, special effects and acting) with the help of an able “mediator” (Fritz Lang). This observation is an incredible irony to the story of the film itself. Those of you who have watched the film (and really paid attention to it) will understand what I mean.
A Timeless Tale
The year is 2026 AD and the world has become a juxtaposition of High-class Utopian Landscapes that tower over a Dystopian working class lowers. We’re in Metropolis where, workers labour in 10-hour shifts repeatedly to survive while the upper-class citizens called “the Thinkers” lead a life of luxury and endless entertainment. The city is run by Johann ‘Joh’ Frederson, who also designed it.
The workers are planning a revolt against Frederson but they are convinced by Maria, an evangelical figure, that they must await the arrival of an able ‘Mediator’ who would lead them to a true and bloodless revolution. In the mean time, Frederson’s son Freder falls in love with Maria and secretly makes his way into the worker’s city to find her. During his time among the workers, he gets a first-hand experience of the harsh and painful lives that the workers endure. He starts to identify with their pain and becomes highly disturbed by it. In the mean time, Frederson gets Maria abducted and persuades Rotwang, an obsessed scientist to give his robot woman the likeness of Maria. Once transformed, the robot leads the workers into preparing for a violent revolt and seduces the upper-class citizens into a frenzy of lust and selfishness. At this point, all hell breaks loose as people are on the verge of tearing each other apart. In the meantime, the real Maria is rescued and together with Freder, manages to sustain the revolution and get rid of the robot. The film ends with Freder becoming the “heart” that connects the “head” (the upper-class citizens) and the “hands” (the working class).
The Genius of Fritz Lang
There is no doubt that Lang is to be blamed for the brilliance of this film. The photography, editing and the story are constructed with pin-point accuracy and powerful execution. The special effects, the visual improvisation and the set design find their place even today as valid cinematic techniques. As much as the visual magic astonishes the viewer, the strength of Metropolis truly lies in the themes and the undercurrents that run throughout the film.
The way people move in the film is very significant. The opening scenes that first show us the workers toiling at their machines is a very important one. There is a 10-hour clock that represents the present shift of the workers. The whistle blows at the end of the shift and workers move out in accurately composed rows of six each. These workers move in an inhuman and an almost robotic fashion, with their heads hung low, tired from the day’s work. To their left, there is another line of workers that are going in, also in rows of six each and moving exactly twice as fast. This adds to the whole industrial vision of Metropolis where the workers are depicted as mere extensions of the machine.
The story is quite different up above in the upper city. Freder, the protagonist of the film is introduced as the perfect example of the upper citizens: naïve, luxurious and completely unaware of what lies beneath his ever-present comfort. He is first shown playing with his girlfriends in the
Camera movement is powerfully symbolic in the film. When Freder is explaining the explosion that he had witnessed to his father, the camera walks along with the two of them. When Frederson stops to disagree, the camera stops too and only starts moving again when Freder continues.
Another significant and lesser observed element to the film is the usage of doors. Every time someone closes a door in the film, it depicts a loss of communication. It also requires our hero to take further action. In the scene when Freder storms out of his father’s office, soon after his father had fired his assistant Josephat, he closes the door behind him representing a loss of communication between them. Freder follows Joesephat down the stairs and prevents him from killing himself. They start to talk and in between their conversation Freder throws a disgruntled look at his father’s closed door. The camera shifts from Freder’s glance, travels up the stairs, meets Frederson’s angry glance in his office and bounces back onto the closed door.
There are numerous references to the Bible in the film, the most prominent of which is the role of the central character Freder. He takes on an almost Christ-like role, being the “only son” of the ruler of Metropolis and the eventual saviour of the people. He becomes the “heart” that connects the “head” to the “hands”.
Another reference to Bible comes in the form of a retelling of the story of the
An Evergreen Film
Everything about Metropolis is evergreen: the art, the filmmaking, the story, the direction and the experience of having watched it. Even though it was made in 1927, it still holds strong when applied to the present times. It is fascinating to realise that Metropolis is set in the year 2026, which is just 18 years away now. The magic of this phenomenon comes from the vision of the extraordinary man that is Fritz Lang. Metropolis inspired Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) which in turn started the sci-fi explosion of the 1970s and the 1980s. Even Bladerunner (1982) draws inspiration from Metropolis.
As an admirer of the film, I see that as days go by, the world is coming dangerously close to the world of Metropolis. Society at large is stretching further at the ends as the middle-class citizens of the 20th century are slowly rising to the upper heights and the working classes are slipping down more than ever. As the world goes further and further into new prophecies that keep giving us new ways of an oncoming inevitable end, there is one lesson we all can learn from Metropolis. Let us make sure that the “Heart” is in the right place.
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