November 21, 2019 may remain in history for several reasons. One of them is the fact that on this day, the premiere of the documentary 'Spirits in the Forest' took place simultaneously in many cities around the world, The event that inspired the film is the concert of the group Depeche Mode that took place in Berlin in 2017 as part of their Global Spirit Tour. The information provided by the event organizers indicates that these screenings are intended to be unique events with the public, so I can consider myself lucky because our local cinematheque was one of the locations where the documentary was screened. If indeed the public screenings will be limited, even for a while, this movie has a chance to become, at least for the Depeche Mode's enthusiastic fans audience, another item in the series of cult objects that support the band's fame, beyond its musical merits.
The film makers chose a structure different from that of other musical documentaries. They did not present the concert from start to end, and did not include behind the scenes information or expert comments about the musicians and their music. Instead they chose to focus on the lives of six fans of the band from six different places in the world - Mongolia, Colombia, United States, Romania, France and Germany - all coming to Berlin to see their idols. They went into their biographies and listened to testimonies about how Depeche Mode's music influenced their lives. One of the women had been suffering from cancer and the group's music accompanied her long and painful hours of treatment. The man in Colombia was separated from the two teenage children and part of their connection was to create music videos in which they played the band's music. The young woman from Mongolia had learned English using the texts of the group's songs. Of course it is only a sample, but it can also be a key to understanding why tens of thousands of spectators, sometimes coming from all over the world, gather in halls or stadiums to experience such events.
There is a risk that the fans of music documentaries and filmed concerts will be disappointed. For example, I'm not a fan of Depeche Mode, and I didn't find out much about the band in this movie. It seemed strange to me to subtitle the dialogues although all the interviewees spoke clear and impeccable English, but not the texts of the songs. The music of course eventually captivates and is well filmed, but it was not the focus. 'Spirits in the Forest' is a movie less about Depeche Mode and more about some of the fans of the group.
