Another look at the silent masterpiece. This really is a terrific story, so excitingly told, so well paced, building up to its crescendo at the end. Politically, the message may be all over the place, but that doesn't tmake it a worse stroy in terms of excitment.
Just to recapulate a couple of visual things; the strong centre lighting really does have a huge effect, so different from some of Murnau's, Wiene's, etc. Also, there is the critique that Lang deals in still, rather than moving images. This probably has a point, save a few exceptions.
Rotwang deserves a comment as well; is he the main character, the heart of the film? The man who is at once the closest to the machine (the mechanical hand) who yet wants to turn the machine into a man, give it a heart. He wants the machine and man to be one; he is destined to fail.
Also, surely the streams of still sheep-like workers in the last scene shows that Lang himself realises the vapidity of the solution offered; a fight against a screen play he disagreed with?
Also ,Lang is obsessed with straight lines and angles, the vertical and the horizontal are very strong, very powerful, in a different way from other expressionists. Sensational.
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