MADNESS OF MANY

MADNESS OF MANY
“…artistically dark…spewing forth it’s message…”
“…an ancient battle of good vs. evil through the eyes of a tortured soul…through ourselves…”
Directed by Kaper Juhl in 2013, “Madness of Many” is indeed a dark trip into the mind of Victoria. our lead.
Her past, full of torment, pain, suffering…
a hell on earth…
and like so many others in life… ourselves perhaps… along with similar victims shown, one has to find one’s own escape…
Paradise.
Heaven.
“Pain and suffering expands my consciousness to find peace”.
Victoria – stripped, crawls along the floor past a stainless steel chair with a hole cut out in it – a bucket placed underneath to catch her excrement. She is chained. Dirty. Vomiting blood…a storm sounds in the distance as gloved fingers pry open an eyelid on her bloody face…it rolls back…
The film looks bleak – mainly black and white visions with muted colour – colour giving stark contrast to highlight effects or give meaning. Narrative continues throughout – telling us the story of the past, of the present and of a possible future…
In four chapters.
Birth.
Between Two kingdoms
The Darkness Within
Rebirth
A story (literally) put to film – a kind of sermon for life’s weary traveller who has given up…forsaken…worthless…exploited…
To take to heart…
And comfort whatever is left of your blackened soul. Such are the fates put upon many of us by life’s “supposed gifts”…
Rape.
Incest.
Drugs.
Alcohol.
Abuse.
Victoria reflects on her past through visual images of chains, of molesting hands, screams of pain, blood smeared body.
“I believe there is darkness in all human beings…for me since 8years old…the first time he raped me…”
Daddy.
An unseen hand stretches out to her…black…a new friend… and so begins her learning curve…
Through torturous ordeals and memories.
“I was not my thoughts…I was the experience of them…”
An experiment of a kind – seated, force fed by a clinically dressed male – drugs injected to see the response? A vision of attempts to return to normality? Is life merely an experiment? What is “normal”?
So many questions and with a tortured mind, answers are often hard to find.
“I’m broken”…”I’m pathetic”…”Kill me”…”Why do I live?”…”Is all this real?”…
Vomiting all of life’s ingested decay, choked to unconsciousness and revived repeatedly, and with a knowledge that others have suffered a similar fate by way of other victims on screen, a sense of higher conscience is found…
…a way out for “Love is eternal and Evil is merely ignorance in disguise…”
Washed clean, blood and grime removed, chained and still sightless, she is led to another victim where she vomits her decayed knowledge over the naked body which is then cut open and unwanted entrails removed…pulling out the very soul??
Death is birth and good and evil combine and are awarded by boiling water as a primitive anointment.
A celebration of opposites.
Masked figures look onward, axe in hand and through decapitation and gouging, through ingestion and need…
Rebirth is obtained.
Seeing is believing.
“What will you do with my story…will you learn from it?…Do you see the meaning?…Don’t worry, one day it will all will be clear to you…just wait…”
“You’ll see”.
With an excellent soundtrack and music from Anders Norddal in the background, this narrative heavy entry is full of vision. Enough gore and vomit to appease those wanting visceral delights. Enough meaning to provide the “thinker” with quandaries as to their own existence. Enough impact to make this one standout from the crowd.
My advice is to let the words wash over you – you will understand all you need to know through repetition and vision.
The meaning is all there – take hold of it if you dare too and reach your own…
Attainment.
“…Merciful release…”
“…I fear the act of dying more than death itself…”
“Scratchy” Pete
Jan 2014