Workers of the world unite with these classic films for Labor Day

Fritz Lang’s German expressionist classic offers up a simple model for understanding capitalist class relations. In the dystopian future megalopolis depicted in the film, the wealthy, intellectual elite rule from towers looming high above ground, while the laborers sustaining their decadent society toil underground, shoveling fuel into the gaping maw of a fire-breathing machine/monster. As a narrative about the liberation of a dispirited, literal underclass, errs in casting as its hero a liberating upper-cruster rushing to the rescue of the weary workers, largely as an excuse for winning the affections of Brigitte Helm’s virginal heroine. Nonetheless, the film’s elaborate depiction of the basic labor relations between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie captured the mood of early-20th century Europe, and especially a Weimar Germany adrift between ideals of constitutional democracy and the proceeding tides of fascism.