PIFF Report from Homely Planet

FULL METAL VILLAGE
Germany, 2006

This film is the first of two documentaries that I've seen in the past two days.

The village of Wacker is located in the Schwelsig-Holstein state of northern Germany.  It's a bucolic little country hamlet, home to a handful of farms.  The residents are mainly older people - most seem over the age of sixty - and good natured, regular church-going folks.  The only thing that differentiates this village from others in Germany is that for a few days each summer, a large field on the edge of the townlet plays host to the Wacker Open Air Festival, a festival dedicated purely to heavy metal, which, in butt-rock loving Germany, is sure to be a serious ordeal.

Most of the film is dedicated to the residents themselves.  We go inside their homes, we see them at work - fixing motorcyles and milking cows and pulling up organic potatoes from their gardens.  These people reflect on their village and the festival itself.  Some of the old ladies are naturally frightened by the metal fans and the evil sounding music, but most residents say that the festival goers are for the most part well-behaved.  I'm sure the village profits well from the festival as well, thought the filmmaker never really probes into that matter.

Full Metal Village was directed by Cho Song Hyun, a Korean worman who I assume lives in Germany, given her fluency in the language.  She briefly appears on screen in a couple of shots, and we can also hear her questions a few times.  Other than that, the people and the surroundings do all of the talking.  Her style is obviously influenced heavily by the masterful  Errol Morris; there is no narration or comment of anykind.  Most all of the information is offered by the subjects themselves.

Cho does a great job of getting these village residents relax and open up.  The effect is often quite funny - like any small town, the place has its share of strange characters.  The film then becomes about the village itself, rather than the festival, which, in the end, is a bit of an afterthought.

And that is my biggest complaint.  I wanted more metal.  I wanted to see more thrashers, metalheads, and heshers.  I wanted to see more of the bands and hear the music.  I wanted to see Teutonic mullet heads shotgunning beer and smoking huge joints and puking and fighting and screaming at the sky.  Anyone ever seen Heavy Metal Parking Lot? And I'm still a bit of a metalhead at heart (it being my first real rock and roll passion) and can appreciate it both for its real and ironic effect.  But the actual festival only occupies about ten minutes of a ninety minute film.  You almost wonder if it's even necessary.  It is the reason I bought tickets, however.

Errol Morris made a brilliant documentary some years back called Vernon, Florida.  He had gone to this small town on the Florida panhandle to make a film about the rampant medical insurance fraud going on there.  However, no one would speak about in on camera.  The residents and place were so fascinating, however, that he still made a film, choosing instead to focus on them, rather than his first idea.  I get the impression that Cho could have done the same here, despite the fact that she ended up with a sweet and enjoyable little film.