Metropolis

Even though this was a silent film, I couldn't believe that this movie was made in 1927. For one, the plot is very evolved. Directed by Fritz Lang, it is set in the futuristic world of 2026 in a city called Metropolis, where the people are divided into two different castes: Thinkers and Workers. The Thinkers design all the buildings and machinery and the Workers carry out the plans. There is a severe chasm between the two groups, because the Thinkers don't know how to build their creations, and the Workers don't understand why they are building it. Enter Freder (Gustav Frohlech), the son of Joh Frederson, the head Thinker of the city. We first see Freder frolicking with other Thinkers, living a life of luxury. But after a Worker named Maria (Brigitte Helm) brings up some children from the underground working area and proclaims, "These are your brothers!", Freder starts to pay attention. He goes to where the Workers are to find Maria and witnesses an accident that claims several lives. He vows to help the Workers, to be a sort of "mediator" between the hands (Workers) and the head (Thinkers). Some other characters include Josaphat and The Thin Man. There is also a mad scientist named Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) who was in love with the mayor's wife, Hel, who died in childbirth with Freder. The complicated relationships between the characters impressed me. I was disappointed that some of the scenes that were lost sounded like the most intriguing. There was a fight scene that was only narrated, with no visuals.

Despite being a silent film, Metropolis kept my attention, for the most part. I can see how this movie was visionary. Even now, I was impressed with the scope of the set and the attention to detail. And the idea and script actually hold up, despite the strangeness and unpredictability.

One of the best scenes of the movie was when Rotwang turns the Machine Man (or should I say, woman) into the likeness of Maria. It was visually amazing and the robot looked appropriately creepy. Another scene that was memorable was the "erotic dancer" scene. I didn't stop laughing the whole time. The faces the men were making when they saw Robot Maria were so over the top and the dancing was very spastic. That was by far my favorite scene in the movie.

I liked this movie. There were a lot of visual references, like the fact that the workers were doing seemingly meaningless repetitive motions to reference how this is what they did all day, every day. I also thought the ending line couldn't have been any better: There can be no understanding between the hand and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.