warping the visual and auditory appetites

Picture yourself in a sea of sweaty bodies under flashes of neon lights while a black-and-white reel playing in the background is silenced by the thump of electronica beats. But look again: you’re strapped dumb on a theater seat, the film is projected on a widescreen, and that ubiquitous music that does tricks to your heartbeat is being played live. This ain’t no clubbing experience; this is the new age screening of a classic silent movie.

“Metropolis,” in the eyes of director Fritz Lang, is a warped view of what would be in the year 2026 where the dichotomy of the Thinkers and the Workers is widely wedged. Feder, the proverbial autocrat’s son, having seen the injustice imposed on the labor force, joins the mob uprising. Thanks in part to Feder’s illusory lover Maria, the mob destroys “the machine,” the central nervous system of the city’s inner workings and the source of oppression for the angry underworld. “Death to the machines!” is a constant outcry in the film, reflecting the simmering sentiments of the masses during the industrial revolution and what director Lang would have perceived when he made the futuristic film in 1927, an inevitable revolt a century later.

The film runs barely an hour but is long enough to warp your visual sense of a narrative, particularly the actors’ exaggerated facial twitches, absurd dream sequences, choreographed mob scenes, and Lang’s vision of a prototype robot. These visual elements lend credence to an entertaining and disparate filmic experience to audiences whose palates have been conditioned to a formulaic narrative that is Hollywood today. While Metropolis’ underlying theme may be speculated as the precursor to present-day futuristic films -- the silent film practically screams (pardon the pun) “rise against the machines!” which sounds oddly familiar – the story construction remains intact and the flow is unperturbed. This makes Metropolis as Fritz Lang’s most celebrated work since he started his film career in Germany in 1919 and moved on to make more notable films in France and later in the US.

What makes the silent film a more compelling experience is the accompaniment of live music while it is being screened. Obviously this method was previously never intended (nor thought of) to enhance the viewing pleasure, but at this multi-sensory day and age, the collaboration works effectively and makes scenes more impressive. The music, a very ironic electronica sound, complements the highs and lows of the film, strengthens the movements of the characters, punctuates the emotions of the scenes, and heightens the overall atmosphere of the story. This isn’t plain music plugged in, popped up and left to play while the film runs. It is a well-thought arrangement that follows the ambiance of every scene where well-synchronized sounds interplay to enhance various shots. Amidst the techno-beats, feel the slicing of the sickle in the hands of a skeleton in one of Feder’s dreams, or hear the haunting echo of Maria’s taunting as she led the mob to revolt.

The cleverly contrived musical piece that accompanies the entire length of the film is courtesy of the group Rubber Inc. Its musical genre snugly fits into the clubbing scene but its repertoire has been lent more often to high art pursuits including those for Ballet Philippines and Cultural Center of the Philippines. This is the second time that Rubber Inc. was commissioned to do the accompaniment for Metropolis, the first being the previous year’s silent films screening. The group’s musical playground is a smorgasbord of electronics that goes beyond a mere turntable. For Metropolis’ electronica accompaniment, Rubber Inc. tinkers with gadgets including a sampler, effects, keyboard, laptop, mixer, guitar, and a turntable. The architects of the musical ingenuity include Blums Borres on guitars, Caliph8 on the turntable and sampler-beats, Malek Lopez on keyboards and as conductor, and Mark Laccay is sound engineer.

If you want to catch the experience, more of Fritz Lang’s silent films will be screened all Thursdays of August, accompanied by other notable musical artists, the finale of which is “Destiny” (1921) with renowned artist Cynthia Alexander (August 25).