Around The World in 24 Frames 05.29.09: M

Posted by Len Archibald on 05.29.2009

I can't help myself! I haven't any control over this evil thing that's inside of me! The fire, the voices, the torment...Who knows what it's like to be me?'

So, tomorrow I head off to Jamaica for my sister's wedding, and I'm going to be her emcee for the reception. She has no idea what she's signed up for. No freaking clue. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Never fear, there will be a column by yours truly up even while I'm away – I always come prepared, fellow Boy Scouts.

It was bound to happen, but the Blue Jays are facing an early season collapse - A NINE game losing streak. Couldn't even outslug the Orioles in extra innings. Hopefully this is temporary. I would hate to see Boston or New York win the AL East...Again - It would be nice to have a sweep against the Red Sox this weekend, but I won't hold my breath. At least my Red Wings are rolling onto the Stanley Cup Finals. I want to say they will sweep Pittsburgh, but I will be generous and say Detroit repeats in six - Giving more fire to the case that the Red Wings are the most dominant sports franchise in the past quarter century.

A little note: I love how we've become so engrossed in "lists" that when people form their own opinions of something, it is automatically dismissed as "claptrap" and "diatribe" when it doesn't conform to an individual's taste. As much fun as I had with last week's Top 5 Post-Apocalyptic Movies, I honestly cringed reading some of the comments. Seems like some people don't understand the definition of Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian. Orwell's 1984 is already here in some minds. [/rant over]

I love movies. They represent escapism, art, intellect and spirituality. Some are nothing more than popcorn flicks, designed to ease the burden of "real-life" for a couple of hours. Some bring important issues to the forefront that challenges how we perceive our surroundings. The most important thing for me – if one is a serious film goer – is to constantly expand and discover new movies. This includes experiencing stories told outside of North America.

Yes, I know: "I don't like to read while I watch movies". Well, neither do I, but I won't use that to prevent me from finding a great story within the screen. It is important, as human beings to discover other cultures and expand our perceptions of those different from us and how they see the world. There are reasons that Bergman, Kurosawa, Fellini, Ozu and Truffaut are important in the movie world – They are just great at what they do.

I intend to highlight a new film every week that is considered "foreign-language"; now that definition is simple, yet broad and complex. For example, if you need subtitles to understand the events of the plot, I will discuss it. If it is a film from a primarily English-speaking nation, but is *NOT* in English (i.e. Leolo or Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner from Canada), I will discuss. If it is a film from outside the U.S. and it *is* in English, I will not discuss (sorry, Brits & Aussies) – for now. My goal is to shed light on some of these gems, and help quell the insatiable appetites for those who can't live without seeing a new movie. Enjoy!

M (1931)
Germany
Dir: Fritz Lang
Runtime: 117 min



Over time, our sensibilities and apprehensions have dulled as moviegoers. I would surmise that 98% of what we see or hear on screen is no longer considered "shocking". We may give off a feeling of what may be interpreted as "shock", but it is more expected, not as powerful, and definitely not lasting. When we watch films such as Saw or Hostel, how much of the violent images stay with us? A buzzsaw to the head of a young girl doesn't have the same punch as it may have even 10 years ago. We've become indifferent to what we see on screen. The image is already given to us. There is no interpretation. Nothing that requests an examination of the dark corners of our minds. Now we have filmmakers fill in the blanks for us.

This is why a film like Fritz Lang's M has lasted for almost 80 years. The film from Germany about a child-killer preying over his victims gives the audience everything and nothing at the same time. This is Exhibit A when identifying the most influential films ever made. What did this film give birth to/popularize? The serial killer. The police procedural. The Noir. A realistic depiction of the criminal underground. "Ripped from the Headlines…"

The film starts with a high-angle shot of children playing a game, while chanting of the "black bogeyman" in the streets. Children, rhyming about a child murderer. Why? Because as they play, a psychopath who does just that is on the loose. Why are they even out? Why aren't there any adults in the opening shot? Pay attention…

The Jazz Singer was just released three years prior. "Talkies" were still in their infancy. Some movies exploited this by having their actors talk all the time. M is brilliant in the fact that it is treated as a silent film with moments of dialogue sprinkled in between. Montage is used effectively. A blind man sells balloons; a little girl is with a whistling man. A balloon is bought. A mother calls out to her daughter frantically from an apartment ledge. A doll is left behind. An empty seat at the dinner table. The balloon rises into telephone lines. A scream.

What happened to that girl? She was murdered; we know that – but…How? With what? How long did it take? We answer these questions through our own imaginations within seconds, and take hold of an uneasy feeling. We fear the unknown - it is human nature. We fear it more if it comes from us. Lang understood, and exploited that fear by contrasting it with facts of how the police go about their business. They search, they use fingerprints, they hassle criminals. The criminals understand their business is being affected by the murderer. They send spies, they bribe for information. All the while, no one knows who the killer is.

The audience does. He is Hans Beckert, as portrayed by Peter Lorre - a great actor who was typecast for years because of this famed role, then became one of the major character actors for Warner Bros. during their golden years (his most famous roles are opposite Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon). With his clean shaven babyface and bulging eyes, he studies his reflection in the mirror making deformed faces to see if he can find the monster others see in him. He has relatively little screen time (like another famed serial killer, Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs), but he makes the absolute most of it. He carries a silent deadly charm that masks his sickness and paranoia.

M is a great example of the German Expressionist movement of films kickstarted by F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922). With its exaggerated angles, harsh lighting and deep shadows, M gives us an environment of despair. Its claustrophobic compositions on the faces of the panicked townspeople express no chance for breath. The faces are cold, ugly and disparaging. Example: A man is confronted after an accidental meeting with a young girl. He is short; it then moves into a high angle shot from the point of view of a taller man who questions him. The high-angle reflects not only the short man's meek stature, but also his helplessness. This amplifies the fear and paranoia of the townspeople in the story. Suddenly, the one tall man becomes two, then two become eight – out of the blue, a vigilante mob has manifested, cramping through the frame, trying to get at the innocent man. Lang, along with cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner, carefully crafted and calculated every shot of his film this way.

There is also a very distinct balance between sound and silence that is hard to escape. We're so used to 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound filling the room with "realistic" sound effects, that we cringe when there is not anything taking up space. We consider it "dead air" and think of it as a mistake or the mark of a sound amateur. Not in M. Because of the new sound technology, Lang did not want to use it as a marketing ploy: He wanted to carefully craft his picture around noise. His use of leitmotif: an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea or person (or dominant recurring theme) by way of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edward Grieg, allows the right touch of audience manipulation. Once we hear the tune being whistled, we know for a fact that Beckert - and therefore death - is close behind. We don't hear cars, birds chirping, or any "fill noise" in the background. Just whistling and dialogue. The film is too quiet for its own good. By using sound only when it is absolutely necessary, Lang's film serves as a piece of subconscious manipulation. We usually breathe with characters on screen as we hear them breathe. It is buried underneath, but is especially prevalent when we watch a horror film, observing us panting with the main character as he/she tries to escape a horrific situation. But there is little breathing heard in M. We subconsciously hold our breath, treating each scene under a guise of uncomfortable anticipation.

Through the lighting, mood and atmosphere, along with the police procedural plotline, M is considered the starting point for the "Film Noir" movement. Movies such as The Maltese Falcon, Out of the Past and The Third Man owe a great debt to this film.

The true and ultimate legacy of M, though, may be the fact that it is the first film to my knowledge to recognize, identify and force the audience to concede to "the darkside". What is that? It is the amoral part of the human brain. It is the yin to the yang of man's unlimited potential for good. For where there is good, there must be evil. And where there is evil, there must be good. M only acknowledges evil. There is a foreboding sense of dread throughout the entire movie. It haunts, creeps up on you, and never lets up. It shocks, but not for the sake of it. It forces you to think up the worse in people – and therefore, in yourself. It never lets you in to the mind of Peter Lorre's killer. At least, not until the end. This is where the film goes from great to classic.

Most of the film is devoted to the police and the underground mob finding the killer. Lang does not differentiate between the two worlds. The men are half-seen amongst shadows, smoke and dives. The faces of both the police and criminals are "piglike" (tm Roger Ebert). Somehow we are to identify with the searchers. But this is a society of diseased and decaying people, where we see closeups of greasy sausages and filth. Eventually, Becker is caught (by the criminals, no less) and is yanked into a basement to be tried by the underworld criminals, along with the townspeople who supported this brand of vigilante justice. Why aren't they helping the police? I am reminded of the opening speech in The Godfather, where the undertaker admits to Vito Corelone that the law has failed in protecting his daughter (or punishing the perpetrators who beat her) so he must turn to the mafia as his last hope for not justice, but revenge.

It is at this mock trial we see Peter Lorre's full potential as an actor. He performs one of films most powerful monologues, explaining that he cannot control the evil inside of him. He sweats, his eyes almost dislodge from the sockets. He pulls on his face, describing how his urge to murder follows him through the streets and finally cries out:

"I can't help myself! I haven't any control over this evil thing that's inside of me! The fire, the voices, the torment...Who knows what it's like to be me?''

M does not absolve Beckert from his crimes. He is guilty – he admits that much. But we have been led to believe that the mob mentality and vigilante justice is the way to prevail. There must be a scapegoat for the overall suffering of people, and that scapegoat must be extinguished. Just as we are about to witness Beckert's destruction from the mob, the police raid the basement, reminding us that the law still exists, despite our most primal urges. The townspeople, and the audience taking part in their emotions, almost fall to Bekert's murderous level. The audience may not have realized it, but Lang has demonstrated subconscious propaganda.

"Propaganda?" you say. Beneath the high angles, the extreme shadows, the claustrophobic atmosphere, Lang was at work trying to uncover something. Just as The Silence of the Lambs used a serial killer as a backdrop for feminism, M used a serial killer to make a point about Hitler's Party. The Nazis were not too fond of the original title of the film, "Murderers Among Us", as they assumed it was about them (of course, the question begs, why would they feel that way if they felt they were doing the right thing?) They tried to kill the production. Joseph Goebbels acknowledged Lang's talent, offering full control of Germany's film industry if he joined the Nazi party. Lang chose exile instead. His wife, co-writer of the screenplay, stayed behind and joined. The film was used and re-cut as The Eternal Jew, using Lorre's final monologue as an anti-Semitic statement. The film was re-arranged to show how Jewish art, including film, tainted the greatness of German art. It expressed how Lorre, a Jewish man himself, twisted "…a sympathetic portrayal of the criminal to gloss over and excuse the crime…"

The Nazi party had risen to prominence in 1931, but had not yet taken power. Lang had the foresight to understand his surroundings. There is anger in M at the people for allowing a child murderer on the loose, the same way Spike Lee pulls no punches for African-Americans and ignorance in Do The Right Thing. The theory is that Lang hated the Nazi Party, hated Hitler, and hated the people of Germany for falling for their propaganda. This, his earlier film, Metropolis (1928), which depicts a society run under a suspiciously familiar dictatorship and his next film, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), where there was no doubt that the villains were Nazis, were all statements about the country he lived and found success in.

Back to the opening image of the children playing with no parental supervision; it is bookended with Beckert's trial. Before the sentence is announced, the camera cuts to three of the victims mothers, weeping openly. The mother of the first victim explains that no sentence will bring back her daughter, or any of the victims, before looking right into the camera (and thusly, the audience) and pleads "…one has to keep closer watch over the children. All of you." No amount of worldwide justice could ever reverse the damage of Nazism. The film forces us to admit that much.

Germany should have kept better watch over its children.

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