GRANDDADDIES OF CINEMA - THE SILENT MOVIE WEEK :METROPOLIS

Now, watching silent comedies that are now considered classics the whole world over is all very well and good; however, it rather gives the impression that nothing serious was ever filmed during the 20’s. Now of course this was a long time ago and a lot of material has been lost since then but there are a lot of films worthy of note. Metropolis ranks high among these last mentioned. The version I watched was the restored version; and sadly a large part of the film is actually lost forever, the version of the film we are able to watch today is the version “reassembled” according to the original script from the unedited negatives. It is edited into a perfectly “viable” film with the original “intertitles” and everything; however, there are chunks (big ones) of footage that are irretrievably lost. Those bits are narrated from the script with modern intertitles. Well, the remaining footage amounts to about 2 hours of film. And when I actually finished watching the film, I found myself bitterly lamenting the lost footage that amounted to no less than a quarter of the film; around forty five minutes in total. Now I am NOT a big fan of sci-fi. Fantastic, things like magic, fairies, wizards and witches yes definitely. Robots and aliens (Dr. Furter excluded naturally) err no, I’ll pass. Generally anyway. However, this one…Oh boy… Fritz Lang, I take my hat off to you, your film kicked ass 50 years before the genre was properly invented…
We are transported to what we can only assume is “sometime in the future” (they weren’t all that particular on setting their stories steadily in time and space back in those days). The world revolves round the giant city of Metropolis. The rich and privileged live in towers high above ground in luxury. Then there is the “workers city”. Situated in the depths of the earth, the workers are basically everyone who is not privileged. Their lives revolve around the 10 hour shifts where they do back breaking work to keep the city’s giant machines working. They seem to be doing their work without questioning it but their patience is growing thin. One day, quite unexpectedly, Freder, the son of Joh Fredersen – the Master of Metropolis – is plunged into this world. And he realizes that as the heir of Metropolis he has many important things he must do to provide peace… But will he be able to mediate between the two sides effectively? And what of his father who is plotting with the city’s inventor over a “machine man” (read robot)? Will good prevail? Or will chaos descend on Metropolis?
Now even at first glance, there are so many messages on so many different levels in this film, you may be forgiven for just reading the plot and reckoning it would be unwatchable. And all this of course on unfamiliar, “soundless” territory. The theme of the workers against the privileged upper classes is easy to spot. There is also much said about the human condition, men working with machines and men being almost effectively turned into machines by modern living. And then there are the machines themselves, not to mention the Machine Man. Of course the “living creation” was a theme pursued since Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein but this is a whole different level. The setting is such brilliant sci-fi and Lang’s vision of the future so – for want of a better world – realistic it simply blows one’s mind. The whole thing would have been fascinating to watch; the machines and the heartlessness of the modern world is at one point set off with passages from the Bible but ALL those sections are effectively lost. I don’t want to elaborate in great detail but you will be left with more food for thought than you might imagine. So much so that when you look at the names of all the characters one sees clearly that Lang did his level best to make them sound like no real country on earth so no country’s regime would feel offended and think they personally were compared to this “Brave New World”-ish dictatorship.
There are many quintessentially “beginning of the century” things in the film as well. To site but one Freder the young hero for example; he is a typical “Candide”. Unaware of the real world, sensitive, naïve… He faces the “adventures”, learns and grows but his motives, thoughts and reactions remain “perfect” if you will; just a notch on the wrong side of human (not to mention the fact that he is prone to fainting fits and becoming delirious under great psychological strain) but it doesn’t go against the grain. He represents purity and goodness and we are so naturally on his side that we forgive him all of that; that was the case with me anyway… In short, the film knocked me for six. Highly recommended.