Review of M (1931) by Elvira B — 11 Jul 2010
M is a film in which horror is both in what goes unseen and in what takes place in front of an audience. In this masterfully suspenseful film, it is up to a group of people -angry citizens, lawmakers and housewives alike- to discover and capture a child murderer -and, once they have, decide how to keep and punish him.
What most struck me about it was the way Fritz Lang dealt with the difficulty of applying law and order as a collective decision, while also expressing the risk and skepticism that derive from leaving law and order to the authorities; that is, when authority is not necessarily the most trustworthy institution.
More than a thriller about a serial child killer, to me this is an observation of power and people in the German Expressionist style. In that, it's a masterpiece, and surely a landmark of cinema.
This review of M (1931) was written by Elvira B on 11 Jul 2010.
M has generally received very positive reviews.
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