The story of the movie "M" tells that in 1930, the entire city of Berlin, Germany, was shrouded in a terrifying and depressing atmosphere of a mysterious child killer. The police and the underworld were investigating and arresting the killer. In the film we can clearly feel a sense of depression, confusion. The people at the bottom are impoverished and struggling to make a living; the police and government management system is chaotic and at a loss. When we contact the social background of Germany at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, we will find the mapping. After the First World War, Germany's old upper class and organizational system were destroyed by the Nazis, and Germany established the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), but Mussolini's terrorist expansion extended to the precarious Germany. Asking for financial support from the incompetent Weimar government, the government became a figurative puppet. Coupled with the complex mood in European society after World War I, Germany soon fell into an economic crisis, and severe inflation accelerated domestic anger. (Eric Hobsbawm, "The Age of Extremes") In such a social context, we can see from the film the helplessness of police officers and detectives, their limited abilities, and their arrogance towards the people at the bottom. The beggars, prostitutes, and underworld figures who are on the fringes of society live in embarrassment and cannot survive. And the entire social atmosphere is in a panic, and unstable situations and emotions are spreading throughout the city. This also sets the tone for the entire film. The film uses shaky shots and irregular composition to reinforce the presence of this instability. It is also beneficial to the soundtrack, and the empty mirrors of the streets and cities to render the overall atmosphere. Movies can often be a mirror to reflect the unspeakable pain of reality.
Cities provide film noir with the spatial environment and time constraints in which the story unfolds. On the other hand, the metaphorical symbols that film noir tends to express are also provided by the cityscape. In "M", we can see the two sides of the city, one is the crowded and flowing urban landscape. From this, the order of society, the chaos of the system in Berlin, Germany, and the poverty of people's lives can be drawn. This can also assist in the richness and visualization of the narrative background of the film. At night, however, the streets are deserted and eerily quiet. Street lights, traffic lights, neon lights of billboards, these symbolic elements are all metaphorical representations of urban life, intoxicating life, or depressing scenery. There are many trams and taxis in "The Maltese Falcon", which are also the performance of commuting and communication, suggesting the passage of time or the development of the plot. In my opinion the more important urban landscape of film noir is rain, sewers or sprinklers. They symbolize "clearing" the darkness. (Chen Yishui, American film "Taxi Driver", lecture) With a very expressive approach, he expresses his desire to clean up the darkness and rubbish in society, improve social order, and build urban civilization.
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