Amelia Farley Week 7 essay 27/11/18

‘I have tried to approach the murderer imaginatively to show him as a human being possessed of some
demon that has driven him beyond the ordinary borderlines of human behaviour’(LANG). Discuss the
depiction of murderer(s) in M.
The depiction of murderer in M is one which creates a moral conflict for the audience regarding the
justness of condemnation and the circumstances which allow one person to condemn another. The fact
that there is a bracketed (s) in this essay question opens my argument that one should consider Hans
Beckert as not the only murderer in this film, even if he is the only one that actually kills.
One way in which murderer is depicted is, naturally, through Hans Beckert as ‘Kindermörder’. The first
depiction of this physical murderer is of him as inhuman. He is continually alienated throughout the film in
order to separate him from the rest of society and to portray him as unusual. The ways in which Lang does
this are both through watching the character himself, as well as listening and being exposed to other
people’s impressions of and comments about him. A running image throughout the film is the idea of
silhouettes and shadows. The first time that we (indirectly) meet the murderer is through the casting of his
shadow over the wanted poster in the street. The fact that the audience is not provided with a face or
closer detail of Hans Beckert until later in the film shows how Lang wanted to keep this figure impersonal
and how he was didn’t allow a real study of him as a human to be undertaken. A further depiction of
Beckert as lacking human qualities can be seen when he is watching a young girl through a window, before
her mother comes to take her away. In this scene, Beckert is portrayed as almost animalistic as he rubs his
lips and stares hungrily at the girl as if he is hunting her as prey. The fixated look of the murderer here is
contrasted to the more relaxed, seemingly normal, look on his face when he was browsing the contents of
the shop window. The sharp widening of his eyes as he notices the girl is reminiscent of an animal when it
catches a scent or when it sees its prey nearby. This image is directly contrasted to the penultimate scene
of the film, in which Beckert is physically cornered by the people of the town during his ‘trial’. Here, the
murderer is not depicted as a predator, but more as the prey, as he is reduced physically to his knees by the
shouts and violence of the accusers. It is also significant that he is referred to by several members of the
crowd as ‘Hund’, which undeniably is another link to the semantic field of animals. By likening Hans Beckert
to an animal, Lang forces the audience to recognise his mental insanity, and therefore we question whether
he should be treated and condemned as another criminal would be. As Beckert is shown as totally different
to those around him, Lang compels us to consider the reason for his behaviour, as most of the film is
focussed on the pursuing and catching of him and not his motives or personality.

The dual character of Hans Beckert is one which creates an ambiguous meaning of the label ‘murderer’. As
previously discussed, his less human qualities alienate him from the other people of the town, however he
does at times seem to have a more normal, sympathetic side to his character. Mirrors and reflections in
windows are used to demonstrate this image of Hans Beckert’s dual personality as he is explicitly conflicted
and confused over which he most belongs to. During the scene where Hans looks at himself in the mirror,
the voiceover of the handwriting analyst adds depth to this depiction of the murderer as stuck between his
insanity and his normal human instincts. The voice states that he seems to be an actor, someone who is
used to playing a particular role, hence supporting the idea that Hans switches subconsciously between his
two personalities with ease. The more normal, relatable side of Hans’s character is depicted in the form of
childlike qualities. It is impossible to overlook the similarity between Elsie’s surname – Beckmann – and
Hans’s – Beckert. Additionally, the scene where the murderer and a young girl share sweets from a bag
which he has purchased for her shows him in a childish light. In the same way, in the trial scene at the end
of the film, the reaction of Beckert to the sight of Elsie’s balloon and the pictures of his victims is to flinch
backwards and cover his face in a nervous manner, as is typical of a child when being scolded. All of these
comparisons between the murdered and the children as victims creates the idea that he is also a victim of
other people, as I will later discuss. The panic on Beckert’s face as he struggles to understand why he
cannot remember his crimes evokes a sense of sympathy within the audience as we recognise his mental
illness, which causes him to forget what he does. The transition between his two personalities is
particularly evident in the scene previously mentioned, where Beckert spots a young girl as is next victim
through a shop window. He shuts his eyes and squeezes them, as the camera is positioned in a very close
shot. Again, here we see the childish habit of shutting your eyes to protect yourself from what is in front of
Amelia Farley Week 7 essay 27/11/18
you. As well as this, it appears as if Hans is trying to suppress the more violent side of his character and
keep it at bay. However, when he fails

to do so, it is as if a switch flicks and Hans is no longer filling the camera frame: instead he is side on to the
camera and walks almost robotically out of shot, leaving the audience on edge, but also slightly
disappointed and saddened that he cannot manage to override his obsessive desires. As there appears to
be more than one side to Beckert’s character, Lang makes it difficult for the reader to alienate him
completely from those surrounding him, as he is similar to them in several ways. The film was originally to
be called ‘Murderer amongst us’, which also adds to this idea that Beckert, to some extent, is very much
relatable to the other characters and that anyone could in fact be a potential murderer. In such a way, Lang
implicates the people of the town to an equal extent as the murderer himself.
This leads on to the point that I want to make about the other murderers in this film – the ones who do not
physically kill, but who possess murderous tendencies and threaten people (intentionally) in the same way
that Hans does (unintentionally). Firstly, the men of the underworld, who gather in the penultimate scene
to condemn Hans, are themselves guilty of attacking and destroying a person. Their unclean consciences, as
recognised my Hans as brands them as ‘Verbrecher’ and asks who they are to judge him. He lists their petty
crimes, such as cheating at cards, to emphasise his point that they commit crimes as a choice, whereas he
cannot help his mental state. Under this category also fall the people of the town, who shout and curse
Hans as he kneels helplessly before them. This is the first time in the film Hans’s mental illness is addressed
and it is the primary point at which the audience feel utmost sympathy for him. However, the lack of
understanding from people in the room creates a much stronger sense of pity for Hans as he seems more
isolated and victimised than ever. In essence, the majority of ‘M’ is occupied with people pursuing and
planning how to catch and punish Hans Beckert. The evident fixation of the townspeople, who plot a relay-
race-like structure to their pursuit and the cunning plans of the criminals, who go past the police and
interfere in police cases implements them all as criminals themselves. The statement of Hans’s defence
lawyer (‘ich werde nicht dulden, dass in meiner Gegenwart, ein Mord vergangen wird‘) specifically uses the
word Mord to link the people condemning Hans to the theme of murder. One of the other people who may
be considered an indirect murderer in the film is the man who first follows Hans and brands him with the
letter M as a mark. From this instance, Hans becomes the victim of an intense and harsh capture and
judgement – therefore, this man may be considered the catalyst to Hans’s persecution. Lang does not
completely condemn these murderers either, though, as he recognises that their treatment of Hans comes
purely as a result of an Angstpsychose and desperation. Particularly when the poster about Elsie’s death is
shown on the wall, Lang uses an eye-level camera angle, which creates the impression that the audience
are amongst the crowd looking up at the sign. In such a way, Lang implicates the reader along with his
characters, which prevents us from judging and condemning them in the way that we would as innocent
observers. Furthermore, Hans’s victims are never actually shown in the frame of the camera – rather they
are implied through evasive means such as Elsie’s balloon floating away and her ball rolling along the grass.
However, the victim of these other characters is shown as Hans kneels submissively in front of them,
screaming in desperation. Once more Lang questions the right for anyone to judge, condemn or decide
another person’s fate – he draws on the fact that no human can truly be free of guilt and asks the audience
to consider this before being consumed by the natural human instinct to shift blame in order to attain self-
praise and peace of mind.
Lang himself partially excuses Hans’s crimes by describing his motive as ‘some urge, by some perverted
urge’. The fact that Lang himself is uncertain of what this ‘urge’ actually is shows how he recognises his lack
of understanding for such psychological illness and how he therefore refuses to attempt to condemn this
man for something which nobody can explain. In the monologue that Hans gives in his trial at the end of
the film, he refers to the ‘urges’ as ‘das Feuer’ and ‘die Qual’ inside him, which instils a sense of sympathy
within the audience as we realise this man’s suffering and inability to escape his dark thoughts. To this,
several members of the public (who previously shouted insults at him) are seen nodding their heads in a
pitiful display of understanding and acceptance. This shows how ‘M’ leaves the audience with difficult
questions about accountability and mental sickness and about the ability of a bureaucratic system of justice
Amelia Farley Week 7 essay 27/11/18
to deal with crimes which were committed for reasons ‘beyond the ordinary borderlines of human
behaviour.’

Bibliography
Maria Tatar: ‘The killer as victim: Fritz Lang’s M’ in Lustmord: Sexual Murder in Weimar Germany. Princeton University Press, 1995.