Until The Light Takes Us

Review by: ~Rana

I have long been fascinated with the Norwegian Black Metal movement since I ran across an article featuring an interview with Hellhammer (Mayhem) in 1998. So, I had a lot of expectations for this film. Filmed unabashedly like a chop and butcher film school thesis, I waited the whole time for them to go into deeper waters. Don't get me wrong, this is a very important film and not to be missed. The directors chose a subject that was once severe controversy, but unwrapped what appeared to be nothing more than a bunch of hateful teenagers (that never grew up) acting like jack asses. There were a whole lot of bland explanations but I didn't glean enough honesty.

Surely, if you're a fan of Black Metal and accede that killing homosexuals and band mates is brilliant, then you got some joy out of it. The directors bowed down to that element, showing Dead's (Mayhem) post suicidal corpse twice for the full effect. Who knew that basic ennui and disenchantment with a country's vanilla yogurt culture could cause such a nasty backlash? The only part of all of this that made sense to me was Varg's (Mayhem, Burzum) explanation of the church burnings. Fuck the Christian ego. He had a very good point. But, ambushing Euronymous (Mayhem) in his whities and claiming self defense, I can't eat steak from that bull.

Whether Varg knows it or not, he portrays himself merely as a orc-stalking LOTR fanatic that likes to play dress up. For the 16 years he spent in prison, I'm still not sure he knows himself or what kind of role is his to play. Fenriz (Darkthrone), who's personality is so huge and who's insights were by far the most compelling, was just thrown various benign stimuli and spent the film in reaction mode rather than breaking any ground. They showed him doing a phone interview and at a gallery as he stood around dead bored (waiting for questions and prompts) at a showing of art influenced by the Black Metal shtick. And it is a shtick now, Fenriz sourly admitted that even while Frost (Satyricon) breathed fire and filleted himself for a crowd in Milan. I wonder how much Frost got paid for that gig.

The texture of this film was emotional chiaroscuro. The audience's laughter toward the nihilistic attitudes made for a serious contrast. I learned more from observing the audience than I did from watching the film. And haps that is what you're supposed to take away from it. Hollywood is taking a stab at it, they've hired on teen idol Jackson Rathbone (Jaspar in Twilight) to play Varg. Varg, among so many others, has blasted the film and the book it was based on (Lords of Chaos), saying its full of lies and misrepresentations, but there are so many lies embedded in the various re telling's of this story that there's little room for umbrage. I do have to feel bad for that kid Jackson, who's already receiving mild death threats on Youtube and such for daring to play such a "legend" They do look a bit alike, not much, but a bit. Right next to the death threats are the prison lizards going on about how "cute" Varg is and how much they'd like to fuck him. Twats. My last curiosity is what Odin would have to say about all this shit. Here's to hoping Dead and Euronymous (a dick, yes, but still a victim) are in the halls of Valhalla forevermore.