How does Metropolis portray the divide between workers and industrialists?

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Fritz Lang directing Woman in the Moon (1929) — Fritz Lang Although it took Fritz Lang some 21 years to make 22 Hollywood films, arguably at least half of them are noirish masterpieces of menace. His time in Hollywood, which began in 1934, followed a directing career in Germany during the 1920s that included several landmark films.

In Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis, the city is defined by a stark, oppressive class divide. The industrialist class resides in luxury above ground, while the workers are relegated to an underground existence, performing backbreaking labor to sustain the city’s infrastructure.1

This social stratification is central to the narrative, which follows the forbidden romance between Freder, a member of the elite, and Maria, an activist who advocates against the systemic inequality separating the two groups. The film depicts the volatile consequences of this divide, as deceit and the introduction of a robotic double lead to a revolution that results in disaster for both classes. Ultimately, the film serves as a powerful visual critique of a society fractured by extreme disparity, highlighting the human cost of such a rigid hierarchy.1