Metropolis

1927's Movie Poster.

Today's entry will be the first about the old school silent movies that have been the very origin of movie making. As soon as video recording was a reality for human beings, hundreds of silent movies were made; some for scientific research, some as docummentaries, some as the first news tv show and some for the ultimate purpose of creating an original story to make people fall in love with movies forever. It is pretty obvious that hundreds of silent films faded into obscurity and dissapeared from the face of the earth, but it is also true that there were several hundreds of films that became the very first classic movies. Among the many classics from those days there was one flick that was the breakthrough for Sci-Fi, and believe it or not the special effects, the storyline and the acting are not dated at all.

The amazing city landscape.

Back in the 20's there was a big european scene, in fact that scene was the leading producer of many films today considered as true classics. European movie makers were becoming the next big thing and their movies were being sold abroad, causing many foreigners to casually become the bridge that would allow non European countries to grant access to the new real thing: silent movies.

Today's entry is Metropolis, Fritz Lang's tour de force. Released in 1927 the movie had great expectations among the producers, considering the huge budget used to make special effects, hiring hundreds of actors and essentially making the pieces fit. Unfortunately the movie wasn't understood by the 20's audiences, so the high hopes went straight to the garbage can and the film being a major failure was blasted into oblivion for good. However, some copies of the film did survive the "burn that piece of shit reels" massacre and allowed the future audiences (yes, us, you dummy) to have the chance of revisiting this misunderstood classic that for today's audiences understanding it is a movie that makes a lot of sense, and I mean that.

Make sure I keep on owning the city fucker.

Metropolis, became a legendary film not only for its content, but also for the many severed portions of the film that made it become a treasure for tomb raiders looking to find the many missing pieces of the film that, ultimately were completed with the finding of the some 20 something missing minutes in  an Argentinean museum, allowing Kino (the restoration dudes) to release "The Complete Metropolis" in shiny blu-ray in 2010.

But, what's the story about Mr. Spam Boretelnartive? Well,  calm down a bit!  I'm on way to that! First of all, they say Fritz Lang was a motherfucking Nazi, and they were probably right, but you know, fuck that! this movie is not about Nazi world domination of any sort, it is indeed a contradiction for what history would define as the Nazi culture, AKA Superior race. So, if  you're Jewish or against the Nazi shit, don't worry my friend, this movie has nothing to do with that, and yeah, I teach my students Hitler was probably one of the greatest pieces of shit we ever had, so we're on the same side of the road Captain America.

Maria, the voice of freedom.

The Working class.

Metropolis is divided into three main elements. Element number one being the working class, that is completely enslaved working 24/7 to keep the city's power core among other machinery safe enough as to ensure rich people way of life. Element number 2 is of course, the rich family that owns everything, and element number 3 is Maria, a young blondie that is preaching working class how things would change if they had a bridge to link the rich & the working class with a more human like treatment.

So, on the one hand we have Joh Fredersen the rich mean guy who owns everything and doesn't give a fucking shit about the working class, he only minds his own business which is getting richer by doing the least he can, and oh yeah! also satisfying his little son's desires, a guy named Freder. The Fredersen family is feared, and through fear they have many number one guys doing dirty jobs for them, but, Freder is a little different, he's more about feelings than accounting.

Maria leads the children to the rich men playground.

The Fake Maria.

Maria & Freder, meant to be.

Then, on the other hand we have Maria, which is some sort of preacher that constantly tells the working class that there will be one day in which they all will live in peace and equality, she's peace in the shape of a woman.

And so begins the madness! Joh Fredersen hires a crazy scientist to clone Maria to drive away the working class from revolutionary thoughts, and to confuse young Freder to make him lose interest in having a relationship with the original Maria...

I don't wanna spoil it to you guys, but this is a great film you should all fucking watch right away.

Freder living the working class life.

The Making of a monster.

Behold Mr. Fredersen!

Go, kill, my daughter, kill.

To finish today's entry I give this movie line "The hands and the brain, should be mediated through the heart" amazing movie, amazing music, amazing special effects and believe me this movie inspired thousands of asses around the world! Robocop's design, Superman's City and The Matrix just to name a few!

Here's the movie trailer for The Complete Metropolis Blu-Ray: