A few questions...

Saw the film for the first time a few nights ago. Certainly a masterpiece, but I have a few questions...

1) What was Maria's intent at the beginning of the film, when she appears with dozens of children in tow? I'm surprised she was even allowed to be there in the first place.

2) What do the machines in Metropolis actually do? This could simply be down to limitations of the time (both in terms of imagination and effects), but besides a few monorails I never really saw anything that would require such a gargantuan operation.

3) Why does Fake Maria dance at the Yoshiwara? I suspected that Rotwang's orders were to destabilise the upper echelons of society rather than the workers as Joh had instructed, but then she ends up rallying the workers anyway?