M (1931) - Fritz Lang

In as recent as 2010, the movie M had been ranked as one of the best films of the world cinema by a British Film magazine.  Reports indicated that Lang had based his movie M on real-life serial killers terrorizing Germany during that time in 1920s.

However eccentric Lang was in my opinion, he made possible the foreboding doom with increasing suspense of violence on the children without actually showing any violence.  However ironic, this is incredible insight by Lang as professor Murdaco also added in the lecture, that Germans at this time period were “essentially ‘desensitized’ to violence”. I suspect Lang left that to the audiences’ individual self-imagination of what horrific violence had been done to the children.  Perhaps I’m giving Lang too much credit since apparently in one of the interviews, Lang had told a reporter about his movie M simply that he made the film to caution and inform mothers to be aware about neglecting children.

Ah children. Innocent children and balloons, they so do love balloons don’t they?  Balloons of any kinds, types; balloons associate happiness, celebration, parties, something festive to look forward to!  At least, that’s how my kids are.  You know when you catch a glimpse of a helium balloon soaring into the sky, there’s a child sad nearby sighing.

 

I chose to depict the scene near the opening when Elsie’s abduction, disappearance, her demise was shown with her ball tossed aside rolling away ownerless, then Elsie’s balloon abandoned and adrift caught in the wires then lost over the wind.  It goes back to my opening paragraph that nothing needs to be said or shown to depict the calamity; use your imagination, lighten the situation however you want, but ultimately, the damage had been done.  The manipulative lengthy silence and black screen after the balloon scene also to me portrayed how silence, darkness, can also be in itself nihilistic; almost as how Freud explained our death drive – we have tendencies to spiral into depression and some of us even go further to take our lives.  In that sense, I agree with Freud’s feelings towards his explanation of “compulsive drive towards self-destruction”.

Sad, morose, depressing somewhat; smile, be happy, let your natural high, your endorphins kick in and drive you all away from the “death-drive”.