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By PAUL BRENNER
Ray Bradbury called Fritz Lang's seminal science fiction classic, "Metropolis," a silly film. With
all the truncated film versions circulating throughout the world for the past 76 years combined with the simplistic
panacea to class conflict ("The Mediator between the Head and Hands must be the Heart") that bludgeons its way through
the narrative, it is hard not to agree with Bradbury. Well, at least until now. Kino Video has now released a revelatory
restoration of the Lang film by The Murnau Foundation. At 125 minutes, this new version is the most complete version
available since the original 1927 version, which logged in at 153 minutes and the revised length places the film, if not
quite on the level of coherence, then at least on the level of narrative obscurity that lends the film a greater depth
(cf. "2001: A Space Odyssey").
The film reveals itself like a midnight delirium. Set in 2026, the futuristic city is a barometer for class warfare,
with the effete rich enjoying creature comforts high in the sky while the beaten down workers toil in an underground
dystopia of purposeless machines and skull-filled catacombs. Inevitably, the simmering resentments rise up and the city
explodes. In the previous versions of "Metropolis," the ridiculous love-at-first-sight match-up between Freder (the son
of the cool industrialist ruler of the city, Joh Fredersen) and Maria (the pure hearted mother figure of the depths) was
the hook of the story. It still is the central, phony plot point, but it is now rendered toothless with the new fleshed
out post-death rivalry of Joh Fredersen and the mad scientist Rotwang for Fredersen's deceased wife, Hel. But what turns
the film into a mad nightmare is Lang's pre-Riefenstahl, pre-Speer architecture, a massive production design that
overpowers the actors on such a scale that they are transformed into moving masses of architecture themselves. It is not
hard to imagine why Hitler wanted Lang to run the German film industry after coming to power (upon receiving the offer
from Goebbels Lang took the midnight train and fled the country). The film's influence can be felt in practically every
great science fiction film made since -- if you have any doubts, check out the City of Zion in "The Matrix: Reloaded."
"Metropolis" has become part of the great mass film unconscious.
Kino Video offers a fine selection of extras: a 45-minute documentary on the film, audio commentary by film historian
Enno Patalas, a short demonstration of the restoration, a photo gallery, biographies, and detailed credits. Martin
Koerber, the supervisor of the restoration, provides notes on the restoration. The film is subtitled in English, French,
and Spanish. |
