Metropolis (restored version)

Seen at: Lyric Cinema Cafe, last month.

When I mentioned that this was coming to the Lyric, my dad said he really wanted to go. So for the second time in a year, I found myself going to a movie with him. I even got to introduce him to Ben, who was working the counter that night.

On the way there, my dad mentioned that the restored version was considered to have a very strong Nazi message. I had seen the old American recut version on TCM a few years back and thought it was a masterpiece. I wondered just how a re-editing could make it a Nazi movie.

After the movie was over, on the way home, we both agreed that there was no question what made this a Nazi movie.

The key to understanding it is to realize that we have essentially been fed a load of malarkey about what Nazism was about. We've been conned into thinking it was all about anti-Semitism, which in fact was a side issue in the main philosophy of the Third Reich.

Metropolis had to be lost and destroyed in its original version, I think, because it shows what the real philosophy of Nazism was about, especially in regard to the bloodline-based hierarchical and authoritative organization of society. It is the part of Nazism that survived the war intact, and was proffered to us as the New International Order after World War II. In order words, this movie shows how even though Germany lost the war, the Nazis triumphed.

But other than that, it's a brilliant movie. One of the greatest masterpieces of all time. It was a pleasure to watch every scene. My father thought it was "overly theatrical" like an old movie. I had to tell him that was part of German Expressionism at the time---the exaggerated sets and gestures, as well as the lingering camera shots.

I'd see it again and again, even if I get cold chills seeing the older Federson and his henchmen, who provided the textbook lesson in how to act like a Nazi for many members in the audience. The reason this is not an American movie is simple---the bad guys suffer no downfall. There's no revolution at the end. It turns out they were the good guys after all. They just needed to realize that it takes an upper-class scion of a powerful family to save us all. Gee, where have I heard that before?