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Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis Movie Review

Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis is a 1927 German silent documentary film directed by Walter Ruttmann. It’s a very well crafted and beautiful ode to the city of the time.

This movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night. It belongs to the documentary subgenre called city symphony. These films depict a certain city in a harmonious, artistic and avant-garde manner. Although this one is not quite as strong as the iconic ‘Man with a Movie Camera’, it’s still a worthy addition to this interesting genre.

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The 1920s were a great period for documentary filmmaking, but sadly that will all go away in the next couple of decades with the impending and then ongoing world war. This is why this particular feature represents not just a moment in time, but also obviously its country before it would all go to absolute chaos. But this is where Germany was at its most artistic, during the interwar period, and we see that art, but also industrialism and ingenuity everywhere in these frames.

The film is divided in five acts, each representing a certain aspect of human life in the city of Berlin, from city life to jobs to night life. The working scenes depicted the growing industrialism of the country while the city life shows us just how beautiful and eventful this city is, especially in the night life scenes, which made that final act the best one as those moments were energetic and very intriguing.

Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis is at its best when it’s synchronizing the rhythm of the city with its structure and, well, a symphony. Walter Ruttmann clearly included a well thought out, strong structure to this feature that he followed closely all the way to the end. Thus, he achieved tonal diversity and well accompanied musical cues with imagery.

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The movie is just around an hour long, so it’s not particularly demanding for viewers today, though it left a lot to be desired thematically as it doesn’t have much to say about anything. It’s more of a visual film for better and for worse, lacking any interviews or point of view. The cinematography is phenomenal and some of the imagery is striking, but the film lacked the artistry of the best documentaries from that decade.