Dystopian Classic: Metropolis

The other night my husband put Metropolis on Netflix.  It had been at least 10 years since either of us have seen it, but it was incredible to watch given the last few preoccupation with dystopian literature.  While Metropolis isn't the first dystopian films, it is one of the earlier ones.

In case you aren't familiar with the film, here's the description from IMDb:

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.


And here are some stills from the film:

During this particular scene the adults have forgotten their children, dooming them to drown.  I couldn't help but make a wisecrack that nowadays, we'd tell this story from the perspective of the kids about how dumb/clueless their parents are.

As you can see Metropolis has machines and working drudges, robots and skyscrapers; it's truly a classic dystopian sci-fi film, and if you haven't seen it, you should.  It's one of the most influential films of this genre and the cinematography is stunning (and bonus: it's on Netflix!)