Metropolis Restored to 1927 Original
February 2010 saw the premier, in Berlin of a newly restored, near-as-damn-it to the original, version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The film is now enjoying a limited theatrical release. Perhaps it is an appropriate moment then, to put its influence and influences into context. Metropolis and the earlier Russian film Aelita, which inspired it, explore the plight of the proletariat under a greedy, exploitative ruling class. Both feature an uprising, the catalyst for which is a love affair breeching the class divide. Metropolis also follows Aelita's suit in its adoption of a science fiction setting; both films project the tensions of the present onto a dystopian future. However, if Aelita was a conceptually original take the oppressive conditions of pre Revolution Russia, it is Metropolis that is the more cinematically accomplished. The two films exemplify divergent tendencies. Soviet Cinema would be increasingly informed by Marxism. This was manifest in a Constructivist aesthet...