Some films are instant hits, lauded by the critics and embraced by audiences for capturing the essence of the times. For bolder, more radical films, recognition comes as a delayed echo, a slow burn as the world comes around to the realisation of the relevance of its themes and messages. German filmmaker Fritz Lang’s silent film, Metropolis (1927) exemplifies the latter. Considered one of the earliest experiments in the genre of sci-fi, the film portrays a dystopian world dealing with a futuristic class divide. As the Goethe Institut Mumbai and Film Heritage Foundation bring the classic back to the silver screen at Regal Cinema on March 11, experts believe that the film might have only grown more significant in the times we live in today.

For Amruta Nemivant, senior programme manager, Goethe Institut Mumbai, Fritz Lang has been a familiar name while facilitating cultural exchange in the city through cinema. “Lang was one of the earliest pioneers of expressionism in German cinema and his influences can be identified in works from eras that followed. As an institute promoting the language in the city, we realised that a name so familiar to us remains largely undiscovered by audiences in Mumbai,” she reveals, adding that the screening of a specially restored version of the film will be followed by presentations of two of Lang’s classics, M (1931) and The Big Heat (1953), an English language production.