Metropolis's prophetic vision of chaotic skylines and unequal social conditions still resonates

It's 2026 – the year imagined in Fritz Lang's sci-fi epic Metropolis almost a century ago. Despite its laboured plot the film got a lot right about the future city, writes Catherine Slessor.

Some years ago, I used to work for a company called Metropolis. As a kind of corporate in-joke, the management had tacked up Boris Bilinsky's famous poster for the 1927 film of the same name in the lift lobby, depicting an artfully nightmarish skyline. Inescapable ironies abounded.

Notably,...