I am a preacher of logic and rationality. Metropolis defies logic. This Fritz Lanz film is the definition of absurdity, a characteristic that I don’t normally like. It offers a half resolution to the maximum “ the heart is the mediator between the mind and the hand ”, and elaborates it clumsily, like a science project of a student using quantum physics and shit to make cotton candy for additional notes (science students, forgive me for my ignorance here, as I have no idea about quantum physics. However, it is a word I hear often on the web!).

The “experiment” is ultimately disappointing because the process is unnecessarily and inexplicably complicated. It ends up looking absurd, a characteristic, I repeat, I usually report. The main complaint I had with Metropolis, Fritz Lanz’s 1927 sci-fi epic, regarded by contemporary critics as one of the most important films ever made, is quite similar to sci-fi author HG Wells’s own reservations about the movie. I agree with HG Wells when he attacks the film for favoring message over logic, although I would not be as vehemently hostile as he is (his review basically tears the film apart, and not just through any shredder but one that destroys). to nano bits). There are two things I don’t understand:

1) The movie tells of workers living in the underworld who work a reasonable ten hours in a factory, controlled by a tycoon named Joh Fredersen. A whistle coming out of a pipe-like machine marks the end of your shift. The only sign of his tightness is his gait, a rhythmic gait with a slightly hunched back. An elevator takes the workers to their houses, which are not so bad. They looked like cardboard boxes with window openings to me, but they looked quite spacious, at least from the outside.

One day, there is an accident at the workplace. Many perish, and the film’s protagonist Fred, the son of Joh Fredersen, witnesses the unfortunate sight. He informs his father, who until then has no idea of ​​the mishap. There is nothing suspicious in this accident. Accidents happen, things happen. Frankly, I wanted to ask those workers ‘What are you fighting for ?!’ because there didn’t seem to be a strong motive behind their rebellion. Is it also funny that we absolutely know ‘nichts’ (nothing) about what those machines produce? Because, you know, they’re supposed to “run the whole damn place” and that’s why Joh is a monopolist turned autocrat. They run a city full of cars and airplanes, so these machines make cars and airplanes?

When there is a breakdown later in the movie, the entire city comes to a standstill. There is no power, so should we assume that these machines generate power? And what do civilians who live between the workers’ underworld and the ‘Children’s Club’ (where the wealthy, including Joh and Fred, reside) for a living? And why is it an obligation that if a person is fired by Joh, they go straight to the underworld, as shown in the movie?

2) Fred is in love with Maria, the messenger of peace and equality among the workers of the underworld, and moved by the plight of the children of the working poor whom she brings one day to the Children’s Club to condemn the rich (albeit tactfully) for excesses and negligence. He follows her to the underworld, is haunted by the condition of the workers and decides to support Maria’s cause to improve their standard of living. He himself becomes a worker and mediator between the two worlds.

Hearing a word about Maria’s secret meeting with the workers, Fred’s father plots with a mad scientist named Rotwang creating a robotic clone of Maria using the Rowtang-invented robot that he originally built to replace his lost love Hel, the wife. Joh’s dead. . Maria is kidnapped, tied up in Rowtang’s lab to clone her face into the robot’s, and then held captive in Rowtang’s isolated home. Clone Maria is instructed to instigate the workers to riot. She also makes the tongue flick in the world above with her alluring performances. At a dance, she comes out of an oval-shaped object, which I suppose was a source of inspiration for Lady Gaga’s strange entry at the 2011 Grammy Awards. Also for Madonna’s performance at the Super Bowl, where her helmet was definitely inspired. in Maria’s. I wonder which diva was inspired by good Maria. Maybe Janelle Monae, but she also channeled herself as a robot on her wonderful ArchAndroid album. Okay, I’m rambling too much.

The workforce, incited by the evil Maria, rebels against Joh’s regime and proceeds to dismantle the heart machine, which in turn results in a deluge in the underworld. Machines are also extensively damaged in the process. Now, why, in the name of Metropolis, would Joh, the creator of Metropolis, destroy his own city? Of course, he intended to subdue these workers by force at some point, but perhaps it was too late. Too late. Sergei Eisenstein had an entire army take swift action against rebellious civilians on the battleship Potemkin. Mr. Joh just waits.

Gottfried Huppertz’s score is also not distinctive. I bet some of Janelle Monae’s Metropolis-inspired musical compositions, especially Suite iii Overture, would have worked magic on some scenes in this movie. The Gottfried Huppertz score and 119 minute runtime indicate that I have the 2002 DVD edition of Metropolis. There is a restored 2010 version with 25 minutes of bonus footage. Would you buy it as a movie lover? Maybe. And as a preacher of rationality? Nien.