M (1931) – Trial Scene (1:34:23 – 1:48:06)
The trial scene in M (1931) by Fritz Lang demonstrates many visual elements and relationships in the film. This is the only scene where the main character, a psychopathic serial killer who preys on children, expresses his perspective in the story. The scene features his only monologue in the film and is the end point in which all three character groups (murderer, criminals, police) intersect.
The scene coverage in this 15 minute sequence explicitly portrays the murderer as small, child-like, fragile and victimised. Influenced by the disproportionate forms of expressionism, Lang intercuts between the close up narrow view of the lone murderer and the wide view of the large community of accusers. The murderer was also carried into the scene by a group of men who later was also able to hold him back from escaping. In another shot, the murderer is overshadowed by the balloon in the air that represents one of his child victims, Elsie.
It also depicts his madness and alienation. Throughout the sequence, the murderer is framed narrowly in a close up. By using the technique of shot reverse shot, he is isolated from the opposing crowd who accuses him. The murderer’s isolation is further emphasised by revealing how detached he is from his surrounding reality when he is tapped on the shoulder several times by the hand of a blind witness, his legal defender and the police.
When the murderer is framed with his legal defender, he confesses to the murders and that he was forced to kill by a voice or a shadow chasing behind him. This sparked a debate between the accusers and the legal defendere about whether the murderer is liable for his crimes. The mise en scene in the shot where the murderer is kneeling on the floor below the lawyer, can be seen as a religious reference of guilt and repention as well as referring to the philosophical debate between free will and a God determined world.
All of the above expresses the disempowerment of the main character in comparison to the rest of the film where he is only represented on screen by his shadow and whistle; unseen and hidden from the community while he had power over their fate.
The film is dated during the end of the German Expressionist movement and the beginning of the New Objectivity, where art and literature became concerned about a more practical engagement with the world and the reflection of society. For most parts of the film, the characters such as the police and the criminals are using evidence and practical methods in their attempts to solve the crimes and find the serial killer. The set design was also more realistic and is expressive of the state the society was in rather than representation of emotional or psychological experiences. However, M can be viewed symbolically of the conflict between the two aesthetic movements. The isolated psychopathic killer in the trial scene perhaps can be seen as the last struggles of the outdated expressionist style in a film dominated by social and economic concerns.