As we know, America’s early sound era was filled with musicals and comedies. Whereas in Germany, M, as a thriller about child murder, shot a creepy start. This story was inspired by a real serial killer in Dusseldorf.
Children in the movie
Children are the most naïve and innocent group in the society. Their appearance can also enhance and deliver the horror atmosphere. This usage is common in contemporary thrillers like Orphan and Hard Candy. In this movie, the kids are also victims. Being regarded as the future of the society, kids’ sufferings can arouse great panic and hate among the whole city. Especially in the scene when every adult cursing the killer, Elsie still plays with her ball bouncing back and forth towards the wanted announcement. Unfortunately, this is exactly where she meets the killer and being killed. Kid’s innocence and killer’s cruelty reflect a distinctive comparison, which lay stress on the evil of murderer.
Becker’s shadow
“I have to roam the streets endlessly, always sensing that someone’s following me. It’s me! I’m shadowing myself!” Beckert’s monologue in the last part of this movie is the most unforgettable scene to me. Before the very end of this movie, the murderer is shaped as an absolute mob that causes great panic among all the society. Police and gangs both utilize the entire source in order to catch and punish this killer. His evil is so extreme that even can eliminate the opposite position between these two kinds of force, which represent the traditional justice and blackness. However, in the final part of the movie, when the killer is dragged into the basement being confronted by the citizens, he finally expresses himself as a psycho. He cannot escape the evil compulsions that control him and makes him a monster. Things become blur after his defence. He becomes a patient when he acts as a killer, so should we give him treatment to produce a nice person back to society or just execution to eradicate the hidden danger.
Fritz’s utilization of shadow to depict the creep figure of killer is so clever. Although Becker is the main character in this movie, most of his time on screen is in the form of shadow. Only in the end of the movie, his physical appearance reveals. This setting is so interesting if we regard the increasing physical presence as the trajectory from his shadow monster to the real him.
Police and the underworld
During the search for the killer, Fritz gives us series of parallel shots depicting conferences among police and the underworld. These two groups are so visually similar that I could hardly distinguish them. They sit around tables, smoke in the gloomy rooms and discuss the trail of killer. Their dialog can be even pieced together. I think this structure is kind of mock towards ineffectiveness of the government.
Techniques
The killer uses candies and balloons to please kids and then kills them. The director Fritz Lang did not show the exact scene of the murder, but use the balloon, electric wire and the empty dinner plate to indicate the victim’s death. This kind of shooting method can be found in later crime movies as well.
M was Fritz Lang’s first sound movie but he was not that excited to make characters talking all the time. He left spaces for his camera to prowl through the streets and dives without any sound, which ease the tempo but actually draw more attention of audience.
M is not only a thriller, but also a meditation towards pathological human. As I discussed in the previous part, if we treat the illness to be the shadow of Becker, this shadow can be attached to every self in the society. If that happens, flushing one out of existence would be a problematic solution and so, caring these groups of psycho would not be simply about sympathy but a must-do of the society.
