Scene analysis of Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis'

This is a scene by scene analysis of Fritz Lang's film 'Metropolis'

Hi, and thanks for stopping by my movie blog. I've put together a plot summary and scene analysis for one of my all-time favorite science fiction movies, Fritz Lang's 1929 silent classic Metropolis. If you have a DVD, pop it in and follow along. And please leave a comment or your own interpretation of this terrific film called by many the greatest science fiction film ever, predating 2001 and Blade Runner by decades.

Metropolis

Title 1 (00:00-6:47) (6:47)

In this opening title of the film we are given a summary of this particular edition of Metropolis and that it includes 25 minutes of footage retrieved from an original version discovered in Buenos Aires Argentina.  The book by the same name was written by Lang’s wife Thea Von Harbou and 1st published in a magazine (Illustrertes Blatt) and finally published by August Scherk Verlag. As we see the clips, you will be able to tell the new footage because it will look grainier and rougher than the rest of the film, which was restored in 2001. As the credits begin to roll, we hear the rising score by Gottfried Hupperitz. We see those involved in other areas of the film’s production, the actors in the film. We see the film’s epigram: “The Mediator Between the Brain and Hand Must Be the Heart,” and finally, we see a mosaic of skyscrapers clenched together in the shape of a triangle or a pyramid, which is a symbol for stratification. As we watch the clips be mindful of the pyramid motif in the sets and other elements of the film’s production. 

The opening scene appears to be in what looks like a subway with 2 wide lanes full of men, one side filling an elevator and the other side emptying an elevator. They are changing shifts. They all have on the same drab gray uniform and all walk lock-step, the side entering the elevator walking faster than the side exiting the elevator. The men entering the elevator are taken down to the lowest level where they begin their long shifts, performing monotonous tasks at the machines which run the city. 

My viewpoint

Life in Metropolis is a life of monotony and control as characterized by the way the workers are all dressed in the same drab uniforms and by the manner in which they walk lock-step and how they maintain neat rows and columns. The workers entering the elevator to go to work walk 3 steps faster than those returning from work suggesting fatigue. The workers look like zombies or robots, not interacting with each other. The elevator has bars instead of a door implying that in the social order of Metropolis, they exist within a caste society that they cannot escape from. As the elevator descends, we see the workers on it from behind and the world through the elevator’s iron bars. Instead of open sky, we see a ceiling of concrete. The inter title “Deep Below The Earth’s Surface Lay The Worker’s City” is in the form of an upside-down triangle reinforcing the fact that the workers who run the city’s machines are at the very bottom of the social structure. Also, the workers’ heads are down. 

Title 2 (6:46—12:00) (5:14)

The wealthy live high above the workers in a complex called “Club of the Sons” and enjoy a standard of living that puts them at the top of the social class. They have sports, libraries, beautiful gardens and beautiful women. They live life carelessly and completely unaware of those who work beneath the surface of the earth. A beautiful woman from below brings the sons and daughters of those who live below up to meet the “Club of the Sons.” A young man named Freder who’s the son of the master of Metropolis sees the woman from below and he falls in love instantly. The woman and children are herded back into the elevator by guards.

My viewpoint

Title 3 (14:05- 16:50) (2:45)

Freder goes underground in search of Maria and he witnesses the machines and the workers. The machine looks like a pyramid full of valves, switches, blinking lights, and buttons and workers are at various levels of the machine moving in sync. The machine overheats and explodes and Freder sees a vision of the machine as a god named Moloch and he sees the workers being fed to it.

moloch

My viewpoint 

Freder, like Moses in the Bible, goes down among the poor and sees firsthand what makes Metropolis run. It's the blood and sweat of the workers that feeds the god called Moloch that runs the city. In this instance, Freder becomes the classic paradigm of a champion standing up for the oppressed. This follows in the tradition of Tarzan, the story of Moses in the Bible, the story of Jesus, and even the film Avatar. But since this film uses Biblical metaphor, Freder is now Moses sympathizing with those of the lower class. 

Title 4 (22:09-27:20) (5:11)

Freder returns to the Babel, the tallest tower in Metropolis, to tell his father what he saw beneath the city. That he saw the faces of his brothers and sisters, those who built Metropolis. His father’s attitude is cold. The people who built the city are where they belong, his father says. Grot, the foreman of the city’s Heart Machine brings Frederson a map of an underground labyrinth where the workers are planning an uprising. 

My viewpoint

Freder continues in his role of Moses returning to his father, the master of Metropolis, on behalf of those at the bottom, the workers who run the city. In the Book of Exodus, Pharaoh also expressed concern over the possibility that the slaves, as the workers in Metropolis, would rise up against the system oppressing them. Gottfried Huppertz score reflects the grandeur of Metropolis in this scene. Also, the use of camera perspective in this scene where Grot appears shows Frederson’s social position by making him appear larger than Grot, a worker from below, and Josaphat, who’s what blacks would consider a “House Nigger” because of the enjoys a higher status than those who work beneath the city. 

Title 5 (33:39-38:13) (4:34)

Freder returns to the machines under the city and takes the place of a worker known as 11811. They trade clothes and Freder instructs the worker to wait for him at his place. The worker discovers a pile of money in one of Freder’s pockets and takes a detour to the red-light district known as Yoshiwara. 

My viewpoint

Freder now alternates between Moses and Jesus. Like Moses, he returns to the machines underground and disguises himself as a worker to know what the oppressed are going through; as Jesus, Freder instructs the worker to wait on his return but the worker is tempted from the path and deviates into sin represented by the red-light district called Yoshiwara. The scene showing 11811 in the cab was added from film that was recently found in Buenos Aires. The added footage is distinguished by it’s grainier look from the rest of the film.

Title 6 (52:31-1:00:10) (7:39)

Freder and the workers take a secret passage to a temple beneath the workers’ city where Maria teaches them the old Biblical story of Babel. Afterwards, Freder declares his love for her. Fredersen and Maria  are unaware that they are being watched by Joh Frederson and the inventor Rottwang are spying on them. Frederson orders Rottwang to build a mechanical version  of Maria to deceive the people and turn them—and Freder— against the real Maria.

My viewpoint

Maria is John the Baptist, a prophet announcing the coming of the Messiah to liberate the workers. Now, Freder goes from playing Moses to Jesus and this is confirmed when a worker asks Maria “Where is the mediator?” and suddenly Freder’s head  is backlit to look like a halo around his head.

Production note: Wikipedia

Sculptor Walter Schulze-Mittendorff created the robot costume by molding it around a full-body cast worn by actress Brigitte Helm. The costume was so rigid that she suffered cuts and bruises wearing and moving in it. 

Title 7 (123:17-126:09) (2:51)

Rottwang the inventor kidnaps Maria and gives her image to the Machine Man who will deceive the workers of Metropolis.

My viewpoint

Great scene with all of the Sci Fi cliches of the time—electrical arcs, smoking chemicals, and alchemy. Biblically, the Machine Man is the AntiChrist, an analogy that is supported by the inverted pentagram in the background. An inverted pentagram is a symbol used in Satanic rituals. So, this means that Maria herself represents both prophet and Messiah at the same time. Note the music and the theme (music) that Gottfried Support  uses to describe the Machine Man version of Maria. A livelier variation of this theme is played in the Yoshiwara scene later. As Gottfried Huppertz synced the leitmotif he used for the Machine Man with the various switches and levers in Rottwang’s lab. Each instrument in Machine Man’s theme woke up with every turned dial or thrown switch until we have the entire leitmotif. It’s like he’s conducting an orchestra.

Title 8 (129:17-1:34:54) (5:11)

Freder finds Rottwang. Maria is with Joh Frederson, Rottwang tells Freder. Freder returns to Babel and finds Maria in his father’s arms. He is unaware that this is the fake Maria.  Freder is stricken with a high fever and in a dream he is transported to the Yoshiwara night club in the red-light district. There, he sees Maria as the Whore of Babylon on a stage dancing before the upper 10,000, making them lust after her and fight and kill each other. 

My viewpoint

When Rottwang created Machine Man he created her to deceive the workers as Frederson instructed. But Rottwang never forgave Frederson stealing his woman whose name was Hel. Hel died giving birth to Freder so Rottwang also programmed the Machine Man to destroy Metropolis by making it’s men destroy one another. Again, note the music and how the faster tempo of the Machine Man’s theme here. Bridget Helm is great as the Mechanical Man in this scene. Also, staying consistent with the movie’s theme of social stratification, take note of the pyramid motifs in the set designs,  particularly Freder’s bed, the headboard and footboard. Also, you see the Machine Man as Maria in Yoshiwara driving the Club of the Sons mad, making them fight each other, kill each other, even committing suicide. He sees her riding the 7 headed beast spoken of in the book of Revelation.

Title 9 (1:39:33-1:40:30) (00:57)

Rottwang, the inventor, is holding the real Maria captive. He tells her that Fredersen wants the false Maria to resort to violence so that he can be justified in using force against them. Unlike Maria, who preached for peace, the false Maria preaches violence. 

My viewpoint

As she did with the elite in Yoshiwara, Maria, or the Antichrist, deceives the workers of Metropolis to destroy Machine City, just what Fredersen wanted. But Freder, his son, spots the fake right away, warns the people, but they overtake him and head off to destroy Machine City.

Title 10 (1:46:30-1:59:45) (13:15)

Rottwang  tells Maria that Frederson wants the workers to become violent to justify slaughtering them. But as Rottwang is telling this to Maria, Joh Fredersen is nearby eavesdropping and he breaks into the attic and overtakes the inventor. Maria escapes while they are struggling. Meanwhile, the fake Maria leads the workers to destroy the machines. The workers are so caught up that they abandon their children. The fake Marie pulls a switch that causes the city to flood.

My viewpoint

As she did with the men in Yoshiwara, the fake Maria, or in this case the AntiChrist, brings chaos to the workers beneath the city. This scene draws an analogy with the flood that is described in the Bible. 

(Wikipedia) The director got 500 children from the poorest districts of Berlin to film the flood in this sequence. He ordered the extras to throw themselves at powerful jets of water in this flooding sequence.

Title 11 (2:01:34-2:06:54) (5:20)

Freder and Maria reunite and rescue the children as the Worker’s city is flooded. Freder takes the orphaned children to the Club of the Sons. 

My viewpoint

Title 12 (2:08:28-2:10:21) (1:53)

Grot, the foreman of the Heart Machine brings the workers, elated over the destruction of Moloch, back to their senses. In all the excitement over destroying Metropolis’s machines, they’d abandoned their children. They realize that the fake Maria has tricked them into destroying their own city. Their anger is redirected to killing Maria. Meanwhile, Maria celebrates with the Club of the Sons over destroying Fredersen’s city. 

My viewpoint

Title 13 (2:14:58-2:19:39) (4:41)

The workers capture the fake Maria and burn her at the stake. The fire burns away the Maria disguise and reveals that she is really the Machine Man. Freder sees Maria on the roof of a cathedral being chased by Rottwang. Freder saves her.

Production: Wikipedia

Fritz was obsessed with making this film as authentic as possible as Brigette Helms recalled: “when Grot drags me by the hair, to have me burned at the stake. Once I even fainted: during the transformation scene, Maria, as the android, is clamped in a kind of wooden armament, and because the shot took so long, I didn’t get enough air."[22] 

Title 14 (2:23:50-2:26:50) (3:00)

Freder saves his love, Maria, and Freder brings his father and the worker’s foreman, Grot, together to shake hands. 

My viewpoint

This film was made in 1927 but it is probably more relevant now than ever with the class and racial tensions in the country today. Roger Ebert called this film angry and I agree. But Metropolis is a warning for any society that reduces its citizens to numbers and especially a warning to a society where the poor are concentrated on the bottom underneath an oligarchy of the few that are wealthy. 

Theme

Again, in this scene we see the triangle or pyramid motif as the foreman Grot, forming the head of the pyramid, leads the workers up the steps of the cathedral to confront Fredersen, the master of Metropolis. This suggests the Biblical scripture that says the 1st shall be last and the last shall be first. Now, the workers have a say. This is a very symbolic scene and no accident that it culminates on the steps of a church. The pyramid motif is reflected everywhere throughout the design of this scene (finish)