Liberation Day

I saw it now... As I wrote in this headline, it isn't bad, but there is something confusing in it. Is that the movie about one unusual trip and performance of the Slovenian band or is it about the life in North Korea? However, it is interesting and surprising to see that they were invited to come as a guests and also that Boris(think Boris said that) says "we are the children of Tito's Yugoslavia and now we are orphans". From North Korea's side looking, there is just what is allowed to be known and how their leader shows to foreigners only what he wants to be seen. I guess the true message is "All art is subject to political manipulation", what is the opening quote of the film.

Laibach are a Slovenian art-rock group, who in 2015 went to play a gig in North Korea whose setlist comprised songs from 'The Sound of Music'; this film documents the story. Unsurprisingly, it's a strange tale, but it's also a very hard one to take seriously. Partly, it's because the band themselves deadpan every comment: in Europe, they perform dressed as Nazis, in North Korea they talk of "the most perfect communism". And we (and it seems, also they) actually see very little of North Korean society: film of their strangely mannered discussions with the staff at their concert venue is hard to interpret in the absence of a broader picture. If you told me the entire film was a fake I would believe it, although according to the best information I can find on the internet, the trip actually happened. But don't expect any real insight into life behind the world's thickest iron curtain.

Laibach is a band that formed in 1980 in what was then Yugoslavia, now Slovenia, as an art rock project that aimed to fight fascism by wrapping itself in the uniforms and symbols of fascism and using highly militarized sounding beats to obscure its actual anti-fascist agenda. Dangerous enough in Tito's Yugoslavia, this film suggests that they felt a bit "orphaned" when that country broke up following Tito's death, but they have continued on writing and performing. Fast forward to 2015, when North Korea celebrates its 70th "Liberation Day," the day in 1945 when Japan (which had occupied Korea for decades) was finally kicked out of the country, and Kim Jung Il became the first Beloved Leader of the modern age. Why would North Korea invite Laibach to perform at a major theatre in Pyonyang to celebrate that day? Not sure that can be really explained, but it actually did happen, and "Liberation Day" is the documentary about that event. The co- director Morten Traavik had visited North Korea in the past and also directed various Laibach videos, and somehow he managed to set this thing up. The film is really interesting in terms of how the band had to work with North Korean workers to set up their stage and various multimedia inputs that they use in their live shows; but honestly, the very premise of the film - North Korea invites an anti-fascist Western band that fights fascism by emulating it to extremes! - is worth the price of admission on its very own. Oh, and if you don't know Laibach, check out their version of "Sympathy for the Devil" or "Life is Life" on YouTube to get a flavour of how they might choose to render, oh, for example, the soundtrack for "The Sound of Music" - as they did for this event.

This is a great documentary on how awesome the director Morten Traavik is, occassionally Laibach and their groundbreaking show in North Korea are mentioned.

North Korea may be the most talked and the lesser known country of the planet. It's a closed and supervised nation which is practically disconnected from the rest of the world, and who let itself be filmed very seldom, by few people and in a well filtered manner. 'Laibach' is an anarchist band of metal rock from Slovenia, which had its peak moment of glory more than three decades ago when it brought its contribution to the fall of the Iron Curtain and of the Communism system and dismantling of the country that was known for much of the 20th century as Yugoslavia. The two came together in the summer of 2015 in an incredible event which can be of huge importance or can be just a footnote in history. The first concert of a Western (or at least European) rock band in North Korea. Until history decides about the importance of the event, we have this documentary film named Liberation Day which I have seen in the last screening of the DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv.

Watching this film is a multi-layered experience. We see a door semi-open, or a crack in a wall of mis-communication or lack of communication – I think these words or some similar are being used in the film – to a closed world. But we also know that not all could be filmed, and not everything was shown to the guests. While the members of the band and the team that came with them seem to buy into much of what is being served to them, there is a lot that is not being said that needs to be taken into consideration. After all, the members of the Laibach band not only came originally from a similar political system, maybe not that extreme, but based on the same principles, but also fought against it, and contributed – with their music and public attitude – to their fall. So the question can be asked – why did they accept the censorship and the rules of engagement defined by their hosts? Were they manipulated? The answer is not simple and the ambiguous quote that opens the film describes their approach – any form of art (in their opinion) has its component of propaganda and manipulation.

(Yes, indeed, but dosing differs.)

Some of the images in the film are memorable. The beginning brings together crowds on stadiums gathered for rock concerts (in the West) or for big propaganda shows (in North Korea) and suggests a parallel. The huge statues of the Korean rulers and the ceremonies of bringing flowers and bowing to the monuments are impressive, even if one may disagree with the message that is being conveyed. Some of the situations shown on screen – censorship, controlled performances with selected audiences – are familiar for somebody who lived under the Communist system. Other look simply surrealistic. The music of Laibach and the deep voice of the soloist remember us again on the background that what is important is the art and that its message needs not be explicit. A rock band concert in North Korea is an event. This film is an event. Viewers need to take this film as an open exercise and do their own reading.