Metropolis

Starring: Alfred Abel, Gustav Frohlich, Fritz Rasp, Brigitte Helm
Written by: Thea von Harbou
Director: Fritz Lang
Year: 1927

Rating: * * * *  Stars       +       (Fan Bonus 1/2 )  Total: * * * * 1/2

The very definition of a movie "ahead of it's time", Metropolis is a sweeping epic tale that still resounds with social issues relevant today. An incredible running time for it's day (almost 3 hours), hundreds of extras, huge sets, and amazing effects, Metropolis is the absolute king of the silent picture era.

Set in the future, the city of Metropolis is a Utopian world of clockwork precision. Unbeknownst to most, there is another society that dwells below. Freder Frederson, who's Father Joh Frederson, the founder and leader of Metropolis, comes across a beautiful woman named Maria who captures his heart. He follows her to discover, much to his shock, an underground world of workers, who seem to operate and maintain the machinery that runs the Utopian city above. She espouses the need for a better life for the workers, if only the leaders (the head) would join the workers (the hand). But in order to do this, there must come a mediator (the heart) to unite these two diametrically opposite societies.

Freder, of course, takes up her cause, but Joh refuses. In order for his society to function, the workers must remain below. Rotwang, a former colleague turned nemesis of Joh, is a noted inventor. he agrees to help Joh squash a supposed worker uprising. But Rotwang has a plan of his own, one that Joh is unaware of, and could cause both societies to fall to anarchy.

Except for the oldest graybeards among us, the Silent Film era is something read about in history books. Our culture unconsciously is accustomed to surround sound and Dolby digital. So to sit through a Silent Film for 153 minutes (running time varies more or less depending on which version you have) you really need to bring something of yourself to the film. This is even more difficult when the intro informs you that due to the ravages of time, a significant portion of the film has been lost. But if you do, you'll become enthralled at this films intricacies, sub-plots, intrigue, double-crossing and its vast, realized imagination.  

I'm no historian, but the message of this European film from 1927 seems to be a precursor to the concept of unionizing industrial workers, the "heart" that mediates between the "head" and the "hand."

SEE THE TRAILER: Metropolis