You could be watching...: Once Upon a Time in Norway

My parents have a bad habit of watching Two and a Half Men.

Along with much of the formulaic crap on ABC, it seems to be the only thing they watch. They are in front of the TV for each new episode and know the schedule for syndicated reruns. Whenever I venture upstairs and peek into the living room, Charlie Sheen or Jon Cryer have gotten themselves into some type of relationship or sex shenanigans with an ex or crazy new fling.

It’s absolutely pathetic, and I have told them. They could be reading, writing (though, for some reason, it seems creepy to think of my parents writing hardcore literature), being active in the community, or watching something else.

Like Once Upon a Time in Norway.

Once Upon a Time in Norway is a documentary Zee German recommended to me sometime last year. It represents the high quality and very interesting alternatives to Two and a Half Men that I want to showcase with this potentially new Quiet Man post series. It may not be as frequent as BotW, Hot off the Press, or The Bookworm, but I would like it to appear every once in a while.

Along with German reunification, Zee German educated me about Europe’s diverse music scene, especially genres I never heard of. His roots are with hardcore punk, and he also has a deep appreciation for hip-hop and its myriad of spin-off styles. But black metal was a dark fascination he introduced me to. I obviously knew about metal, and was aware of its more sinister subgenres, but was totally unprepared for the bizarreness of black metal, Norway’s biggest export.

Once Upon a Time in Norway is about Mayhem, the band that started it all, and the emergence of the black metal scene in Norway. The documentary is a collection of interviews of the former members and friends of the band, all of which are translated from the original Norwegian into English subtitles. (Norwegian sounds pretty cool.) The film is very sparse, but very engrossing. I’m not sure how many out there will find it interesting, but I did.

Be forewarned, though: there is one graphic image in Part 3. One of Mayhem’s lead singers shot himself and a fellow band member found the body and took pictures before calling the authorities. One of the pictures was eventually used as an album cover.

Crazy stuff.