Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is an unbelievable creation--- a 1927 silent German film with weirdly original special effects that still cause excitement today. The plot: A big city is divided into two halves. You have spoiled citizens on the surface and the slaving workers underground who are completely ignorant of each other. That is until Rotwang, a mad scientist, captures the beautiful Maria from the depths and transforms her face to a robot to fool the workers into following her until the inner workings of a controlled society fall apart. Yeah.

After cuts from distributors and censors, the good news is that Metropolis will open for the first time in its full, original version at the Berlinale Film Festival next week. The film is known for its discontinuity which adds to the nightmare--- like the story isn’t there to rely on amidst the visual trickery, adding to the nightmare quality. Example: Workers in a power plant pull dials back and forth relentlessly and it makes no real sense except to show they are controlled like hands on a clock. But we digress.

When the restored cut opens, American eco-designer Christina Kim will recycle old film festival billboards, film footage, dvd’s and other movie materials to weave into a giant curtain raised for the showing at the Bradenburg Gate, also known as the symbolic dividing point of the former East and West Berlin. In “Forget the Iron Curtain: Berlin Film Festival Raises Recycled Curtain on Metropolis,” Treehugger wrote, “Where once the Iron Curtain cast its long shadow, 60 years of cultural progress will give testament to the power of creativity to survive adversity. The survival and restoration of Lang's original cut will echo that incredible message.”

Check it out. 

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