After randomly watching Until The Light Takes Us again, I feel as though it's worth recommending to anyone interested in the black metal scene that developed in Norway. While I don't believe that this film would be engaging for someone without any background knowledge of the scene, or the events that transpired from the scene, for those who do have some knowledge, it's worth viewing.
Whether you agree or disagree with the philosophies of the musicians interviewed, it does serve to promote some compelling and perhaps polarizing dialogue. Which may be best left discussed amongst close friends, or in a purely academic context due to its nature. The discussion about the context in which the media took the church burnings in the early 1990's in Norway, putting their own spin on events to create a sensational story and actually setting off a further chain of events, provides good conversation. It's a thought provoking film with several inadvertently comical moments amongst heavy subject matter. (The child sitting beside Frost of Satyricon on an airlines flight is one of those comical moments...).
For anyone interested in background reading on the Norwegian Black Metal scene, I would highly recommend this book. While it's been several years since I first read it, I found it to be an extremely fascinating read.
Readers (and viewers) can choose to take both book and film for what they are on the surface level, but I believe both open up the possibility of discussion about further problems, real or perceived, in society and how these can transpire into something larger. Religion, lack of understanding about religion, cultural history, sensationalism in the media without proper research... All of these are topics that spring quickly to mind, brought forward in the context of black metal.
