Something I Watched

While I was quarantined, Ii took it upon myself to try to watch movies I've been meaning to see. M (1931) has been on my list for a while. I think it got there because we studied a few shots in college about it and I wanted to see more. Anyways, M is a German film about a small town being ravaged by a child murderer. Their identity remains a mystery to the villagers, and tensions continue to rise amongst them as they desperately try to bring the killer to justice.

What I found most interesting about M was that it was shot and exhibited during the rise of Nazi occupied Germany. While not being allowed to be a clear allegory of director Fritz Lang's animosity towards the Nazis, M manages to call out mob mentalities and witch-hunting in spite of censors. 

I really enjoy Roger Ebert's conclusion about M,

"And what a haunting film it is. The film doesn't ask for sympathy for the killer Franz Becker, but it asks for understanding: As he says in his own defense, he cannot escape or control the evil compulsions that overtake him. Elsewhere in the film, an innocent old man, suspected of being the killer, is attacked by a mob that forms on the spot. Each of the mob members was presumably capable of telling right from wrong and controlling his actions (as Becker was not), and yet as a mob they moved with the same compulsion to kill. There is a message there somewhere. Not "somewhere,” really, but right up front, where it's a wonder it escaped the attention of the Nazi censors."