Long-Overdue First-Time Watch: Metropolis

Today has been a big day for me because I finally got around to sitting down and watching Fritz Lang's ambitious and audacious silent sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis.
I am always amazed when I watch films from this era for the first time in how they still manage to feel like fresh and new experiences. When watching Metropolis, I was amazed by how refreshing this film felt and how much of a strong reaction it managed to pull from me. The awe-inspiring cityscape production design paired with Gottfried Huppertz tremendously expressive composition makes for one hell of a thrilling and inspiring viewing experience. We have now seen so many filmmakers borrow from what this film managed to pull off 90 years ago but none have quite managed to succeed as Lang does here. It is a powerful vision that not only draws us closer to a powerfully imagined dystopia but it is an apt allegory for the never-ending battle of class in almost all existing societies throughout time.
The narrative within the center of the spectacle is one that is as old as time. A young man is dramatically pulled from his comfortable privileged lifestyle to face the harsh realities that exist under the tyranny that his father has created. It's a classic tale of expanding the world beyond our own comprehensions. Metropolis is still to this day an unparalleled and towering epic film that has inspired so many other masterful works but most of them don't even get remotely close to matching. Few filmmakers manage to be as relevant and timeless as Fritz Lang.

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