A weird ass kind of real world THIS IS SPINAL TAP, except the band isn’t a joke, LIBERATION DAY shows what happens when co-director Morten Traavik sets up a cultural mission to North Korea by bringing art rock band Laibach to perform. The idea is that the group’s faux neo-fascist attitude would be easy for the Koreans to digest. What results is a clash of cultures that is not what anyone expected.
Funny, moving, and surreal Liberation Day is one of those films I desperately want to see again because it’s straight faced look at what seems to be a joke results in all sorts of laughs and most unexpectedly trains of thought. Sure I knew I would get a chuckle or two out of the culture clash but I didn’t expect to have my brain spin off in six different directions. This isn’t a straight forward us vs them tale, it couldn’t be since director Traavik had previously worked with the North Koreans. He was obviously going after more than a straightforward “mock” doc.
Having seen the film a couple of weeks ago in preparation for this year’s Fantasia I find I am still haunted by it. Normally I write up a film as close to when I see it but this time I had to sit and ponder it. I had to think about what I really felt. I’m still not sure. That’s a good thing.
I do know that I will have to see the film a couple more times before I can really discuss it.
I first heard of the film not long before it when Nate Hood told me about it when we were sitting at a concert. There was this film I had to see…. And now having seen it I know why he felt that way. This is a wild film that doesn’t play by the rules while sticking very close to them. It’s a film that forces us to reevaluate what we are seeing.
Having seen the film I can now do for you what Nate did for me and tell you there is this film you need to see and it’s called Liberation day…
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