Fritz Lang's Metropolis is a film produced in 1927 for the Universum Film AG. The film is reputed to be the most expensive silent film ever produced. It is also considered to be the crown jewel of Lang's extensive film career spanning over 60 years. The film is generally considered expressionist cinema but with the attention to detail and the sheer beauty it uses to represent the machinery that reigns terror in the film it could also be considered constructivist in nature. The inherent mistrust of the machinery (and also women) that is found in German Expressionism sprouted from the horrible carnage produced from WWI. It also came from the rise of industrialization that many feared would encumber jobs of the working class. If you add to this the rise of The Femme Fatale in late 19'th century art and you have a perfect recipe for the film's political leanings. The film has been considered to be only partially complete after many scenes were cut from it due to it's subversive nature. In 2008 a version of the movie was found that is thirty minutes longer than any known copy that was thought to have existed. Found in Argentina and restored in Germany it is now available in 2010 to the common viewer so they can take in Fritz Lang's original vision. The general feel of the film as it tackles the struggle between the working class and the ruling bourgeoisie lends a tense feel to the film. The cold and demonic characterization of the machinery is typical of the mistrust of technology but the beautiful manner in which it was executed is a great example of the onset of modernism.
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