Fritz Lang

We're moving back towards the silent films for this week's post. We previously watched the artist (the post hasn't gone up yet for some reason) and today it was Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis'.
The only Fritz Lang film i had seen prior to this was 'The Secret Behind The Door' which is based on the tale of Bluebeard. Apart from that, my silent movie list extended to include 'The Phantom Of The Opera'.

What I like about Silent Movies, is that they're totally easy to watch. You watch the screen and listen to great orchestral score that is playing along wondering what the hell is going on and by the end of the film you've managed to just about suss it out with thanks to the captions that occasionally pop up. You can try and lip read and come to the conclusion that what the captions often say is a broad generalisation of what is actually being said.

So because it was made in 1927 i'm going to assume that a lot of people haven't read it and just give a summary of what the 2 hour long film is about.

In short: All these workers build machines. They work for a man and they build a city. The man has a son, who after watching his father dismiss one of the workers decides to swap places with one of the workers. The son, as a worker, learns about Babel and the other religious parallels from various books of the bible such as revelations and apocalypse. They go to a meeting with a woman who tells them that there has to be a mediator between head and hands and that is the heart. They need someone to guide them. She falls in love with the son. The father doesn't like the idea of his workers following this woman and goes to an inventor for help.
The inventor was previously married / in love with a woman whom is now dead. The woman had a son with the father and thus the son was born. The inventor has created something called the metal man and he takes the face of the woman and puts it on the face of the metal man. He uses the metal man to lead the workers in the destruction of the city and ultimately the destruction of the father and son.
Needless to say that although the city is destroyed, the son overpowers the inventor and he and his father and the woman live, whilst the metal woman is burnt at the stake because the workers think that she is a witch.

If you're in to silent movies, watch it. If you're someone that can't follow silent films, just try and appreciate the world of silent films and the quality within them.