Watched two films of Fritz Lang. ‘M’ and Metropolis. Both are great masterpieces.
‘M’ was made in 1931. It is about a serial killer who murders young girls. The theme must have been very bold for those times. Apart from the theme, the treatment, the dialogue and the narrative technique are very important. The most interesting part is how the police and the underworld organize a search for the serial killer. The inspector of police details a lengthy account of what the police are doing to corner the killer.
He says, “Minister you don’t seem to understand how an investigation is done.”
How the underworld mounts a massive operation with the help of beggars as informers is a cinematic coup. When he is caught by the police, the killer is made to appear before a pseudo court. The court condemns the killer to death as he confesses to being a compulsive murderer. “He cannot help it” he says. He is running away all the time, from this fear, the fear of yielding to this disease. But he cannot help it. He is himself, only when he kills. It is sheer madness; cruel and apocalyptic. The film raises the question of justice by the people and justice by law. The ending is a poignant “and the verdict is” kind of a thing. The people (mothers) sitting in the audience of the court keep saying, “This will not give back our babies. Who knows what pain we have gone through? After some years he will be let out as cured and then it will be all over again.” All quotidian reactions when made to face the unpleasant side of reality. There is no room for atavistic justice in modern society. But what about the killer himself? The monstrous, barbaric demon!
The essence of cinema is to capture the reality; not pass judgment. The aura and the effects are fantastic too. We see only neurotic, edgy individuals, dragging their fags all through. The movie seems to suggest that a serial killer thrives in the alienated environment of the city.
Metropolis is a German expressionist film made by Fritz Lang in 1927. Again Metropolis is about estrangement and alienation, the oppressor and the oppressed; the capitalists and the labor force.
Frederson rules the Metropolis; a futuristic, dystopic city. The tempers of the harassed work form are ready to explode in revolt any moment, but tempered by sweet Maria who talks to them of a mediator who will arrive soon.
Frederson coaxes Rotenberg to send a machine- man with the face of Maria to the depths, the masses and incite them to violent action. In a mindless frenzy the mass explodes and destroys the machines. The children of the depths are rescued by Josaphat; Frederson’ son and Maria. The possessed Rotenberg is eliminated and Frederson’ son and Maria are united. The head and hands are united by the heart (mediator) Frederson’ son.
The film is on a grand scale especially, the sets and the scenario. The sci-fi concept of machine man and humanoid monster (the stuff of many later films) has its germ here. The symbolism may be obvious and naive, but it does enhance the mood.