M (1931)

It’s an ambitious request to ask your audience to sympathize with a child murderer. In Fritz Lang’s first “talking picture,” he presents us with two different perspectives on violent crime. One an individual who is controlled by some internal force or psychosis to commit atrocities, the other the mob whose members affirm the actions of each other and think as one united group. The individuals who make up the mob consider themselves blameless, for they do not act alone. The blame spreads across the whole of the assemblage, like butter on an incredibly large piece of toast. The individual compelled by psychosis is, in some ways, blameless but must bear all of the responsibility for their actions. The psychotic man does not choose to kill children; he is forced; he is alone in his behaviours, so the blame cannot be spread. It seems Lang was attempting to make a statement about a particular group in Germany who may have seen a rise in popularity at the beginning of the 1930s. The film itself stripped from the apparent political outcry is an achievement in its own right. Lang made artistic decisions that would go on to define a new genre of film. As a director whose previous films were silent, Lang used the dialogue sparingly in this film and focused more on atmospheric sound. The film is grotesque and disgusting in many ways, capturing how the director felt about his homeland at the time. I would recommend to anyone looking to