Metropolis

A pioneering science fiction film, Metropolis is a visual masterpiece. One of the greatest films of the silent era, it is about the struggle between the workers (who live underground) and the rulers, who live a life of luxury above the ground. When a young, beautiful worker named Maria comes up to the surface, a young man named Freder (who is the son of the city's ruler, Joh Frederson) notices her, and falls in love. He switches places with one of the workers to gain access to the underground, where it appears that he may be the "Mediator" between the workers and the rulers. Of course, Frederson will have none of this, and uses the robot created by mad scientist Rotwang to clone Maria and infiltrate the underground.
The influence of Metropolis can be felt even today, especially in films such as Blade Runner and Star Wars (in which C-3PO's design was based on that of Rotwang's robot). Long thought to exist only in a shortened version for many years, a full cut of this German film was found in Argentina (where all things German go to hide) in the summer of 2008. The restored film was shown to the public several months ago, and will be debuting on DVD and BluRay this fall.

Rating: 4/4