Synopsis

A child-killer stalks a German city in the early 30's. As families panic and the police prove incapable of catching the maniac, the city's criminal underworld enacts a plan of it's own.

Pros:

• A classic. The movie's impact on eighty years of cinema is on display in every frame.


• The actors are all outstanding; each seems to honestly be the character he or she portrays.


• Tremendous insight into the "human condition."

Cons:

• A black and white, German subtitled film with long passages of absolute silence is not an easy sell in 2008.

Generally:

5 on a five scale. A must-see for students of film, serious and casual alike.

Extended Review:

Some classic films are easier to admire than enjoy. The 1933 King Kong, for example, is a movie that I appreciate on a clinical level ... even if the movie never really draws me in. Citizen Kane is another one: I watch it and I marvel at the genius of Orson Welles, but I never feel personally involved in the story.

Then there are classic pictures that effect me emotionally. Boris Karloff stumbles painfully through Frankenstein and my heart goes out to a monster who never asked to be born. And I get so emotionally involved in Atticus Finch's closing arguments during the trial in To Kill A Mockingbird that I'm absolutely convinced that no jury could convict.

Fritz Lang's 1931 classic M works on me in both ways. For the first half of the movie I find myself admiring shots and sequences that might be hard to film even with today's technology. Sometimes I'm distracted from the story by a sense of wonder: "How on earth did they do that with a camera in 1931?"

By the powerful final act of M, however, my investment in the movie is entirely emotional. Until the final act, Peter Lorre, as the story's heinous child-murderer, is basically an evil, one-dimensional cartoon. Then, seemingly at odds with the rest of the movie, Lorre delivers a surprisingly moving monologue about his inability to suppress his urge to kill. Cowering at the feet of the city's assembled criminals and gangsters, Lorre begs for the mercy of a crowd intent on killing him. It makes for demanding viewing.

M is a German movie made during the rise of the Nazi party, so it's probably not surprising that the movie is concerned with themes of power and corruption. The comfort of the crowd is a major theme; the ability one might have to do things as part of a mob that one would never do alone. Paranoia and the power of false accusations are major elements here, too.

During the last hour, when Lorre is literally marked to ensure that he can be identified publicly, it's almost impossible not to see the apparent message in Lang's dramatic symbolism.

What's surprising about M is that the guilt of Lorre's character is never a matter of question. He's guilty, we see that clearly, and the audience hopes along with the city he torments that he'll be captured. Lang never intended to make a statement about an innocent man falling prey to a city's fear.

It seems to me that Lang's greater theme was simply about the power of an angry mob. Not only it's power to fall upon a victim ... but it's power to rob each individual involved of his or her own humanity. Mob mentality can deprive any or all of us of our souls. It can turn a just cause into an excuse for barbarism. Lang seems to be saying that there's the potential for horrible violence in each of us, given the security of a gathering crowd. Given the opportunity, any one of us might find something inside himself that he didn't know was there. Even if it's only the willingness to go along with the group.

No wonder that the movie was banned in Nazi Germany.

M is sometimes difficult to watch, but it's rewards are many fold. In terms of cinematography, history, and moral clarity, M is truly one of the great films.

Sort of a trailer, a montage from M:

Labels: Movie Reviews, Movies