Metropolis (1927- fritz Lang) is a silent science fiction epic, and was the most expensive film of the time. Filmed in 1927, it is set in 2027, where technology and machines have overrun the city. The city, Metropolis, is segregated into two groups, the thinkers and planners who live in luxury high above in skyscrapers and the workers who live underground and work under a 10 hour schedule. All this changes when the son of one of the Metropolis leaders falls in love with the daughter of a worker. Soon the son discovers the true horrors that take place below the surface and how badly the workers are treated.
The film is expressionistic in style, with its sets of futuristic skyscrapers and machines, the story and futuristic robot and scientist characters convey a strange atmosphere to the film. Not only the machines but the city itself appears mechanical as everything is orientated around working and nothing appears out of place, even the workers at shift change walk in a grid formation. This is highly contrasted with the surface world, where everything is more natural with plants, animals and gardens, everything is office like and the leaders seem to have a care free life with not much work.
Being a silent film Metropolis can be quite slow and dragged out making a contemporary audience loose concentration even with the highly exaggerated acting, as in today’s cinema a film has to hold our attention through skillful shots and editing. However looking past that it is an artistic film due to its outstanding expressionist techniques and has gone on to influence many science fiction films such as Bladerunner (Ridley Scottm 1982) which is a story of the men and machines the fight between classes and politics.
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