Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang and written by Thea von Harbou, was and is a widely known silent film. Metropolis is a city in which the rich and powerful thrive and the poor live in an underground city, working the "machines". Unseen and unheard from the wealthy, the poor who work the machines live day to day breaking their backs hoping for their sorrow to end. The poor workers look to a woman, Maria (played by Brigitte Helm) to bring together the "hands" (the workers) and the "head" (the rich and those who have power) by means of the "heart" (or the "mediator"). The "heart" is Joh Fredersen's (a man of wealth and control in the city, above ground) son, Freder (played by Gustav Frohlich). Freder Frohlich first meets Maria when she is with a crowd of children (who live in the underground city). Freder Frohlich eventually goes to the underground city out of curiosity and finds a most somber scene.
Freder wishes to find peace between the rich and the poor. Unfortunately Rotwang (an evil inventor) has plans to invent a robot to impersonate Maria and thwart the people of the underground city into creating complete anarchy and destroy the machines. In the end, Maria succeeds in convincing Freder to bring his father and the working class together, with the simple shaking of hands between a worker and Joh Frederson.
Maria, before Freder's interference, seems to me to be convincing the workers (or hands) that there could indeed be an end to their suffering, very effectively on her own. It seems to me that Metropolis played into the theme and stereotype of "Every woman needs a man". I believe that Maria, with her tremendous following of workers, could have achieved her goal of uniting the rich and the poor without the help of Freder, the male "mediator". Although I must say that Maria, having been a female main character with a brain, was a tremendous feat for women in film. It's a shame that Maria is ultimately remembered as Freder's love interest, instead of the leader of a movement of change.
-Critic Neutral
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