Metropolis

Movie Recommendation:
Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang)

For anybody who has a love for films and wants to see a truly spectacular, iconic and beautiful movie, I cannot recommend Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis enough.

Some people have reservations about silent movies and I don't blame them - some of the original, experimental films are quite gimmicky and often dull in comparison to today's standard. Metropolis however definitely breaks such stereotypes of silent features.

Directed by visionary German director Fritz Lang, Metropolis tells the story of Freder, son of Joh Fredersen, the oppressive leader over the dystopian society depicted in Metropolis, in which the aristocrats live a life of wealth and prosperity above the surface, while millions of workers and laborours suffocate and slave away beneath, doomed to work the machines for eternity.
When Freder stumbles upon this underground monstrosity, he decides to help, by trading roles with a single worker, known only as '11811' and he takes up the exhausting, inhumane labour. 
During his time there, Freder falls in love with the pacifistic leader of the workers, Maria, who is also convinced Freder is the much anticipated saviour of the workers. However, she is captured by mad scientist Rotwang who, by order of Fredersen, transfers her image onto the body of a robot, creating a sadistic, hell bent, destructive doppelganger which he utilises to incite a revolution among the workers and seduce and manipulate the aristocrats.

Not only does Metropolis provide a cautionary tale and host critical social commentary from the time, especially in the wake of Bolshevism and the USSR, it is a stunning film to watch. During this period of film making, directors were set on experimenting with camerawork and editing to see what they could create through this new phenomena of entertainment. This is evident in Lang's film, with intricate set pieces and strictly choreographed scenes involving hundreds of actors, marching across the screen. His experimentation with editing is abundant, with multiple uses of montage sequences (evidently one inspired by the works of Sergei Eisenstein and similar directors from the era) and striking images, such as the collage effect used to evoke the notion of an obsessive male gaze in Maria's clone's hauntingly seductive dance routine, which branded the controversial nature of film upon release. This forced Lang to edit the originally 150 minute film down to 91 minutes upon its American release (the thought-to-be lost footage was recently recovered in 2010 of the cut scenes and a now fully restored 150 minute version of the film has been re-released to the public).

Metropolis' influence upon cinema since its initial release spans far and wide. Ridley Scott evidently took significant inspiration from the film when making his equally masterful neo-noir science fiction thriller Blade Runner (1982), in which much imagery shares many similarities with Metropolis. But also, inspiration can be seen in films such as Star Wars (1977, dir. George Lucas), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick) and even The Terminator (1984, dir. James Cameron), and no doubt many more. Its importance in cinema is paramount and to dismiss it as a dull silent film is almost a crime in itself.

Despite it being a silent film, it is a superbly entertaining and gripping movie, with a lot to say about the state of society as well as the path the world appears to be taking. I cannot stress how excellent, poignant, terrifying, and exhilarating this film is. Do yourself a favour and watch it!