Metropolis

This has been on my 'list of films to see' for ages, and by heaven it was worth seeing!

This film is prescient about so much:

• The Human-Machine burning at the stake, revealing a metalic body is pure Terminator.
• Fredersen demonstrates Skype.
• The first use of the Human-Machine is as an 'erotic dancer', setting the pattern we've seen ever since of porn and hi-tech advancing together, intertwined, into the future.

This is a silent film, with text giving a narrative. I like this, films should revert to written descriptions of what's going on. It would help me to understand what was going on.

The film is divided up into sections like an opera. We start off with a prelude, then there's an intermezzo. I like that too. After the prelude I paused the DVD and fetched chocolate / coffee bean dragées to eat during the intermezzo. I recommend you do too.

The main idea of the film is that 'the heart must be the mediator between the head and the hands' in the body politic. I take this to mean that capitalism creates wealth most quickly, but it's not distributed fairly. A compromise is to have capitalism, but tax income to fund a citizen's allowance so that everyone can benefit from the wealth that capitalism creates. If it does mean this, then I heartily agree!