Metropolis- Film Review

The film Metropolis was made during the period between the first world war and the second world war. Though the film was made before the second world war and the rise of Nazi Germany it has many themes and events that heavily reflect what would happen after the film's creation. A dictator at the top of the shown world in the film, the dehumanisation of people who are perceived as strange or different to the typical people.

The film's environment design takes from different kinds of movements depending on the space the film is set in at the time which inspires many films that were made about Nazi Germany after the war. The poorly treated, glum people are put in scenery made to cause a feeling of claustrophobia and an overbearing sense of authority looming over both the characters and the watcher, this is caused by the straight structures and the industrial style of the underground city beneath the metropolis, described by Simon Abrams as 'strictly utilitarian, its streets completely deserted with no signs of life save for when the grunts trudge home from work.'  which I whole-heartedly agree with and this is in contrast to the overground of the metropolis where the rich prosper the architecture is much more reminiscent of German expressionism, giving a refreshed feeling of a new age and a new world. The height of the city is another form of symbolism meant to show prosperity to those high and rich above the poor, but the height becomes an intimidating attribute when seen from the perspective of the working people.

The way the working people are displayed is in a very factory-like perspective at the start of the film, the idea of industrialism and the direct link with the workers is very dehumanising and treats them like nothing but a product on a conveyer belt this is much alike how Germans would treat minorities later in Nazi regime and what Peter Breadshaw of the newspaper 'The Guardian' would argue being that 'Metropolis predicts the ideologies of class and race of the 20th century' which I can personally see knowing the history and what happened after the film was made. 

 The main character's opinion of the situation is only changed when they see and experience the true horrors for themselves, this sentiment has repeated several times throughout cinema especially in context to Germany, for example the film 'The Boy In Striped Pajamas' it sets the story out to be one of learning to empathise. Throughout the film the idea and visualisation of a flawless utopia is gradually broken down throughout the film but oddly as this is broken down the symbolism and themes of sin and unruliness become more prevalent. The idea of breakdown and things falling apart can be directly linked to Germany's hyperinflation at the time, the rate of it was so bad that the world was chaotic and confusing and in said chaos, values and morals were abandoned.  Not a lot in society was certain, when Hel disguises herself as Maria the imagery is very much like the pictures of the Wall Street Crash, though that happened several years after Metropolis was made. The other imagery associated with Hel is occult imagery, though in nowadays its more related to pagan imagery, in the time it was considered sinful imagery, upside down pentagrams, sexual deviency and lavish partying all contributed to a form of sin and debauchery, funny enough being something that Hitler would crack down on several years after the film displayed this. Giving that later on the screenwriter Bea Von Harbou would be employed by the Nazis to make propaganda for them.

The film also shows a form of patriotism, fatherhood and brotherhood, much alike communism. The music within it often has a feeling of communist and nazi music which would make sense at the time as this was during the rise of Naziism, though the  second world war hadn't yet begun. The key theme of the music links to communist themes and Naziism is also the idea of what conteracts it or softens it, that mainly being socialism which was a quiet group at the time however it was still present in many minds including in the creator of the film so it seems, the whole theme of uprising against extremist powers is the synopsis of the plot of the film and could be linked to the film makers' opinions of the growing and starting regimes at the time. Even in its time the city was a dystopian one, although by some standards of the regimes the film was opposing, it may be considered to be a haven.
Bart Testa writes 'Metropolis has an exceptional and highly suggestive visual design utterly betrayed by a confused, sentimental, and likely politically retrograde narrative design' which i agree with because at the time it would be considered as going back in time to before the rise of the patriotism and excluding attitude that had grown and affected Germany, this film portrays the want for change in that by showing the extreme and then reversing what is happening to bring about an end, all for the political message that the screenplay was meant to portray.