[WATCHED: March 19, 2011] Until the Light Takes Us
Soon after finishing Lords of Chaos, I heard a radio interview on the Sound of Young America with the directors of this movie (which is about the same black metal scene in Norway). I finally got around to watching the film, and I’m really glad I did.
It covers much of the same terrain as Lords of Chaos (although the book covers much more stuff), but what’s cooler about the movie is actually seeing these guys talk to you. And seeing how “normal these guys are.” The two “stars” of the movie are Fenriz from Darkthrone and the main man in the scene, Varg Vikerens.
In the radio interview, the directors talked about the way they structured the film. And, I’ll reveal a bit of that. So if you don’t know this particular fact, I’ll give the next line as a spoiler alert:
SPOILER ALERT: (Highlight the blank space to read it) Varg is in jail for murder and for the burning of several churches and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
They don’t reveal this information until very late in the film. So when we first meet Varg, he is a clean cut, handsome man in his late 30s. He is in jail (although not explicitly stated, it is clear he is in jail). And he is talking about the Norwegian black metal scene. Vikerens formed the band Burzum in 1991. He later joined the band Mayhem.
Mayhem is at the center of the black metal controversy. The singer of Mayhem, Dead, killed himself with a shotgun. The guitarist Euronymous found him and took pictures of him (one of which was used as a bootleg album cover–ewww) before calling the police (and it is believed he took some “souvenirs” from the scene).
Vikerens talks about growing up in idyllic Norway, which is peaceful and beautiful–but he undermines all of that by talking about the fairly typical suburban ennui that kids face. Of course, in Norway it surfaced in violence and death. Later, he talks about Christianity and how when it came into Norway there was no respect for the Norwegian culture. Christians built churches on top of ceremonial grounds. And it seems that he and his mates became very interested in Norwegian folklore and avenging the wrongs done to it. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 