Review of Fritz Lang's Metropolis

This film is great. It is one of the progenitor of Science Fiction film. along with Griffith's masterpieces like Birth of a Nation, and more importantly Intolerance, Fritz Lang can be considered a legend of Cinema.

His film Metropolis presents all the worries of his contemporary era in film form. Even more so are his references to biblic themes such as resurrection and redemption. The futuristic setting is phenomenal even to this day. In the 1920s and silent film era, audiences must have been astounded. I can see some similarity between Lang's Metropolis and Blade Runner.

Yet Metropolis captures the fear of the 1920s better than any other film of it's era. Class conflict, revolutionary struggle, the correct path to social advancement are all addressed in this film. The conflict between the master of metropolis and the workers presents class conflict in the 1920s in starkest terms. Although filmmakers in America rarely touched on such a concept, filmmakers in Germany had a free hand to address such concerns, and with the emergence of the Soviet Union, those concerns were at the forefront of public debate.

This film is set in the future, but it is an obvious reference to the 1920s. Germany was in the midst of economic catastrophe in the Weimar years. There was constant struggle between the working class and management. Like so many other sci fi films to follow the idea of revolution takes paramount importance. It is only further complicated by the fact that the messianic figure is an evil robot set out to lead the workers to their own destruction. I think this film is a precursor to other films of the dystopian, revolutionary genre. George Lucas's THX evokes such ideas of revolt against an all powerfuly, all controlling state. As does some themes in the Waichowski's laest film Cloud Atlas.

I am seriously considering showing this film in the class I'm going to teach about Cinema and Digital Technology. I know, it has nothing to do with Cinema and Digital Technology, but it is so relevant to the genre of Sci- fi films. It one of the first, perhaps the first, in the myriad of dystopian films that have been released.