Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell turn out to be complete apologists for Vikernes. There is no mention of his role in the Heathen Front. No confrontation about his earlier writings in neo- nazi zines. It's as if his Odinism somehow exists outside his racist, pure-blood nationalism and eugenicism. It's cool to bag on Christians, god knows they've bagged on us for about 1500 years now, but Vikernes' real extremism goes completely unexplored, though the filmmakers are quick to labor the point that he's not a satanist, which any black metal fan knows.

Look, the burning of Christian churches, the suicide, the murder, and the subsequent media feeding frenzy that launched Norwegian black metal onto the world stage, it's all interesting stuff, and there are some places where the record must be corrected. But this is over- correction. This is essentially a propaganda piece for Vikernes that in no way addresses the full and real picture of him or the movement.

I'm not looking for demonization, I'm looking for basic, fully realized non-fiction. It's not here. If you're not familiar with the early 90's Norwegian black metal movement and the mayhem that went down in it, then you should check this out. But just know that when you're being charmed by Vikernes, as the filmmakers seem to have been, you're being charmed by a very dark guy indeed. This is too loose to be journalism, too soft to be sensationalism, and too clumsy to be of much use to anyone.

Until the Light Takes Us unfolds in an elliptical, almost mournful manner, full of empty and sometimes surreal shots and strange associative leaps in its argument. Beneath all of the directorial flourishes (which unfortunately still don't make talking heads interesting) is a chronological narrative about the rise of black metal in Norway, a musical movement which quickly spiralled outward into a cultural sensation and an increasingly violent subculture. All of this history, however, is constantly connected to the movement's intellectual and philosophical ideas. You may have heard of the most shocking events related here, but what really surprises is the mindset of the artists involved.

The film's best decision is to take black metal seriously. Rather than playing this material as grand guignol, or indulging in the tabloid fixation on Satanic imagery, Until the Light Takes Us treats the early days of black metal as a kind of bohemian cultural movement full of creativity. This portrayal gives the documentary a tangible sense of loss. What is lost is not just people, but also the sense of potential that black metal represented. There's a really clever scene where a musician travels to an art show based off black metal imagery, and is totally alienated by a culture that has rendered even the most profane image harmless.

Until the Light Takes Us makes a turn that's both clever and disturbing halfway through, when we realize that most if not all of the artists we've been getting to know for the past half hour are violent fascists. It complicates our earlier sympathies and makes us question the validity of the outsider-artist narrative. Of course, by the end we've descended into full-on murder, best captured in an absolutely unforgettable scene where convicted murderer Varg Vikernes tells a highly questionable story of killing his bandmate in the same manner you would describe going to the grocery store.

This film doesn't have much in the way of new material for those who are familiar with the events and musicians involved. But it deserves points for managing to both sympathize with the devil and realize what the implications of that sympathy are.

The people who made this film chose to not make it about the music. They also chose not to make about the crime. What we see instead is a noncommittal observation of the very violent results during the creation of 'true Norwegian Black Metal'. This is an interesting documentary but the producers are way too reverential toward their subjects. They seem to assume all watching know who these people are. An, I think, unintended result of watching this documentary is you wonder what the government of Norway is all about if someone can commit cold blooded murder, vacation in a place that looks like a budget hotel for some years and then be released back into society. The subjects of this doc present that Norway is some sort of fascist, totalitarian government they are obligated to stand up against. The actions of Noway tell a different story.

The convicted murderer, Varg Vikernes, shows no remorse, whatsoever. He sticks to his flimsy story that an unarmed Øystein Aarseth, guitarist for the band Mayhem, kept attacking him while Vikernes stabbed him 25 times, 16 of which were in Aarseth's back ending with a Coup de Gras to the head. Somehow the producers of the documentary didn't think it was important to describe those details and that Vikernes was totally unscathed by his attack on Aarseth and that almost all Aarseth's wounds were defensive or in the back. The producers put this story way at the end of the doc and treat it as if it's just another crazy thing that happened because of BM. Nothing to see here, folks, move along. Regarding BM itself, you have to doubt the validity of any supposed art form that destroys other art like all the beautiful antique churches that were burned to the ground in Norway.

Norway comes across as an absentee father where premeditated murder can only get you the maximum of 21 years in a jail/resort (where Vikernes produced two albums) and the various other felony crimes committed by BM followers are treated with a slap on the wrist. Vikernes was released after 15 years, btw. The Black Metal Heads interviewed all come off as spoiled children who display no remorse for any of the damage caused by the fanatical devotion to their 'evil' image. If Norway had better laws they wouldn't be so smug about the incredible amount of damage done by Black Metal followers.

An interesting documentary made weak by it's having no point of view.