Fritz Lang's stunning Metropolis unfolds in a futuristic urban dystopia, one heavily influenced by Art Deco architecture and flooded with Biblical imagery, where the rich live carefree lives above ground while workers toil below.
One of the first feature-length science-fiction movies doubles as one of the most influential films of all time. Fritz Lang's stunning Metropolis unfolds in a futuristic urban dystopia, one heavily influenced by Art Deco architecture and flooded with Biblical imagery, where the rich live carefree lives above ground while workers toil below. It's the son of the city's leader, who has fallen for a working-class woman, who hopes to bring unity between the classes — a notion so naive that Lang himself scoffed at it in his later years. Still, the film's primitive effects dazzle to this day, as does the sweep of its imposing cityscape.