Metropolis presents a towering urban world where elite planners live in gleaming skyscrapers above ground while workers toil unseen below, sustaining the machinery that keeps the city alive. Through striking set design, monumental architecture, and early cinematic special effects, the film constructs a stark visual contrast between order and oppression, wealth and exhaustion. The city itself becomes a character, its scale and symmetry reinforcing the rigid hierarchies embedded within it.

As both a warning and a provocation, Metropolis reminds us that design is never neutral. It either reinforces existing power structures or becomes a catalyst for change.

This special screening features a live score by Cliff Retallick, performed with piano, organ, and theremin.