With visual effects so impressive they'd be little improved in the next half-century, Metropolis creates a world where workers are literally beneath the elite. At first, there is a portrayal of sympathy that easily turns to violence in act three. The moral of the story is compassion, but says little about the workers' own abilities. But perhaps its biggest impact stems from the pieces of modern design, suggesting that their plight is not a futuristic concept. Similarly, the church, a symbol of religion, is centuries old in architecture, as is the hut in which the man who manipulates science for his own purposes and not for the society.

In terms of technical achievement and philosophical discourse, "Metropolis" is a cultural pinnacle of film and of Germany.