| Cinematography: The Spiral Image in M | |
| 01:00:06 | |
| Narrator: Amidst the many shapes, frames and angles of the cinematography in M, one visual graphic stands out, the spiral. The spiral image is seen early in the film in an overhead point-of-view shot as Elsie's mother searches by the staircase for Elsie. This shape occurs again later when Beckert sees another young girl in the reflection of a shop window. Beckert and the girl are both framed by hypnotic spirals. Perhaps an imagistic emblem of the society of Beckert's dark unconscious, the spiraling shape seems to describe a | |
01:00:38 |
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| world that twists and turns in unstable and irrational ways. The spiral graphic returns yet again in the penultimate sequence, when Beckert is caught and tried by the criminals in a kangaroo court. This trial, the film's ironic conclusion is appropriately framed and shaped as a spiraling crowd. M is a film about the difficulty of deciphering images and signs. Here, criminals must become the vehicle for the law, and a blind man must identify the murderer. | |