TEHRAN-The restored version of the 1927 German science fiction film Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang will be screened at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran on Friday.The 153-minute movie will be shown with Persian subtitle at the Nasseri Hall of the IAF at 6 p.m., Honaronline reported.A black -and-white silent film, it oscillates between expressionism and new objectivity.
Adapted from the original novel by Thea von Harbou, the screenplay was co-written by her and Fritz Lang, who were married at the time.
Brigitte Helm, Gustav Frhlich, Alfred Abel, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge are among the leading roles.In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.A critical and commercial failure upon its release, despite being, at the time, the most expensive film in the history of cinema, it was quickly cut.It was gradually rehabilitated during the second half of the 20th century, to the point of achieving the status of a major masterpiece in the history of cinema, as evidenced by its multiple influences up to the present day, particularly in popular culture.Restored several times, in 2001, it became the first film to be included in the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register.Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was an Austro-Hungarian director, a German dual national by marriage from 1919, and a naturalized American in 1935.Inventor of a large number of innovative techniques that have become standards and earned him the title of Master of Darkness, he introduced in 1919 into cinematography an expressionist aesthetic that would become a school and inspire, in particular, film noir.His work is crossed by recurring themes: revenge, the death drive that undermines the individual and society, the manipulation of crowds by a superman, the struggle for power, the violence of man for man, and freedom for evil.
That of the double, an image of a disturbing strangeness, is present in almost all of his films.SS/SAB.
This article first appeared/also appeared in Tehran Times