Metropolis (1927)

Now that I've finally watched Metropolis, it does not surprise me that Hitler was a big admirer of Mr. F. Lang. Metropolis glorifies the Mediator, the link between "brain" and "hands", leaders and workers, and in that, it seems to promote just about the same idea about societal harmony that fascism and nazism are all about. There are different groups in society, each of which should be restricted to its given function. If these functions are upset, society degenerates into disorder and chaos. It was the prominence of this theme that made me put aside another interpretation: that Lang's monstruous city (in which the workers toil and live in their own underground city) is supposed to work as a critical depiction of civilization, inhumane labor, class differences, the power of machines etc. But I would say that Metropolis is titillating, rather than critical. Lang is said to have hated the ending of the film - the happy resolution in which worker & capitalist are reunited. But what was his intention(s) with the rest of the film?

Another "fascist" aspect of it is its depiction of crowds vs. individuals. There are the faceless, bustling crowds of workers, easily manipulated, rowdy, crawling the city like ants. The only individuals who gain a Face are people contributing to the making of History. (It would be interesting to compare Lang's depiction of riots with, for example, Eisenstein's - their attitudes may have similarities and differences. I have to re-watch Potemkin.)

Despite its psychological thinness and despite of its political agenda, Metropolis is still a film that I don't regret watching. In comparison to this, most modern movies utilize the medium of film-making very poorly. Metropolis is bristling with quirky angles, unexpected experiments and crazy, futuristic settings. It all feels very fresh and in that the movie is of course all the more engaging to watch - it's highly entertaining.

And well, my feelings when watching it did not differ substantially from the experience of watching Leni Riefenstahl's film about the 1936 olympic games. Now, after all this, I am a little curious about Watchmen. A modern Metropolis, but less artistically interesting? (Sin city was not that interesting and somehow I expect more of the same.)