Sifting through the ashes

Early September, the WIltern theatre in Los Angeles provided the stage for one of the most historical, tear-shedding moments in the alternative music scene. Industrial rock band, Nine Inch Nails performed their last explosive concert, faithfully executing thirty seven songs which spanned; Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor’s, two decade career. The last incarnation of the band, composed of Robin Finck, Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Ilan Rubin maintained and brought a new dimension to the ferocity and viciousness which defined the band from the beginning. Leaving only three hours and thirteen minutes for the world to remember what has proven to be the most influential band on alternative music, Nine Inch Nails vigorously displayed how far the boundaries of musician radicalism can be pushed; defining, smashing up and redefining the madness of the postmodern world and the inevitably hatred and angst of millions of fans. The concert itself was immortalised with the presence of many special guests who have worked with the band throughout the last two decades including Synth-pop legend Gary Numan, Jane’s Addiction guitarist, Dave Navarro and the Dillinger Escape plan who single-handedly, annihilated the entire stage, leaving nothing but the corpse of dismantled drum kits and broken lighting equipment. The industrial wrecking ball was brought to a final conclusion with a heart-aching performance of “Hurt” (famously reproduced by Johnny Cash) and “In This Twilight” where Trent left the audience with the final lyrics of the song.
“And the longing that you feel
You know none of this is real
We will find a better place
In this twilight”
Despite the hurt many have felt by this emotional goodbye, this was indeed not a final goodbye for Nine Inch Nails, merely an end to touring for the “foreseeable future”. Trent Reznor has continued with the same musical innovation which brought Nine Inch Nails to popularity in the form of a variety of new projects. Nevertheless, Nine Inch Nails last performance was largely ignored, even by the alternative musical scene whose lights constantly shine on the latest boy band’s in disguise, a definite sign of the deteriorating musical standards in the twenty first century. For those who followed Nine Inch Nails “Wave goodbye tour”, one couldn’t help but feel the major significance and impact the band has made on the lives of so many. More importantly, however, the band should be remembered not only because of its innovative musical style but its revolutionary methods of communicating with fans, its constant criticism of the corporate side of the music industry and its sociological impact, which paved the way for radical “shock” musicians to take the stage.
Nine Inch Nails entered the music scene in 1989 with the album “Pretty Hate Machine” which introduced an Industrial noise within the traditional pop framework. The musical direction changed radically with the release of the EP “Broken” in 1992 which fleshed out a barbaric Industrial-metal element, accompanying the release of a banned movie of the same name following the kidnapping, torturing and killing on an unknown individual who is forced to watch Nine Inch Nails Videos. It was, however, the release of “The Downward Spiral” in 1994 which brought the nihilistic, destructive power of Industrial rock to the masses. Acquiring inspiration from David Bowie and Pink Floyd, the album reached widespread popularity with the release of the bands two most famous songs, “Closer” and “Hurt”. Trent had created a new dimension for music to exist in the postmodern world where the angst of thousands had yet to be defined artistically. “The Downward Spiral” essentially paved the way for artists such as Marilyn Manson (whose earlier albums were produced by Reznor) to take the stage and shock the world further.
The band suffered from the dictation of its corporate label, “Interscope records” on several occasions throughout Reznors career. “The Fragile” (largely considered his best work) which was released in 1999 was largely ignored by both the mainstream and alternative audience. Although striking back with “With Teeth” in 2005 and “Year Zero” in 2007, Reznors constant battle with Interscope records reached its final peak for their pricing and distribution plans for “Year Zero”. Reznor described their plans as “absurd” and urged his fans to steal his music online instead of purchasing it legally. Nine Inch Nails has now revolutionized the path for radical musicians to take, avoiding corporate labels, assisting musicians such as Saul Williams by offering the music for free while urging fans to buy the music in order to support aspiring artists. Nine Inch nails latest two albums were released in such a fashion with “Ghosts” (the first nine songs being free for download) and “The Slip” which was available for free download in its entirety.
These are simply few of the battles Nine Inch Nails has fought against corporatism from its freedom to include radical politics within its music on a live stage, several battles with fox News, and incorporating revolutionary methods of interacting with fans bypassing the common advertising “sell-out” methods to its most recent campaign against Guantanamo Bay following the use of Reznor’s music to torture detainees. More so, however, Nine Inch Nails reminds us of the constant need for art to be a relevant force in today’s world. While most artists today shy away from politics and sociological issues in an attempt to avoid controversy, it is always the artists with the greatest sincerity and self conviction that will give the powers that be the middle finger and a loud, resounding “Fuck you”.

Waltz With Reality

Darkness on the shores of Beirut. The luminous, eerie, animated sea is revealed only by three flares in the sky which unveil another three products of the same destructive force. An Israeli trio emerge from blackened sea and float in an almost dreamlike fashion to the beach. The one nearest to me turns his head and presents a set of lost, tortured features, far removed from the usual brutal indifferent masks which IDF soldiers done far too often. The face isn’t completely new though, I’ve gazed upon it before with curiosity, often taking the words of others on whether it should be dismissed or given a chance to flourish. Standing in hmv, grudgingly getting by doing what little Christmas shopping actually needs to be done, I enjoy the chance to be obliterated by my own thoughts while I gaze upon the graphic novel version of the Israeli animation film, “Waltz with Bashir”.
I first heard of the film on a special coverage on Al Jazeera which described it as an anti-war film with an alternative Israeli view on the Israeli defence force and its long and forgotten involvement in the massacres in Sabra and Shatila during the 1982 Lebanon war. I enquired about the film with a few friends who mostly attacked the production with negative criticism, mainly recurring around the supposed “positive” picture it presented of the IDF and its involvement in Lebanon. I left it at that for a while until I approached the graphic novel version, deciding to curiously glance through it. The animation was simply stunning, all encompassing a dark, barely lit atmosphere as if those three flares on the cover provided the only light for the whole movie. I didn’t grasp much of the story since that would require reading the entire novel which I had neither the time nor energy to do. I skipped to the last page where I was reunited with the same tortured face on the cover, gazing hopelessly into the future, coming to terms at being stuck in a world he didn’t know existed, his world. Rows of dead expand down a narrow alley and on the next screen it switched from animation to reveal the real pictures of the massacre. Dead Palestinian men, women and children, buried in the rubble in the middle of a refugee camp.
That last page was enough to change my mind, the film may be biased, itself being from an Israeli viewpoint but there was no way it could be described as a positive depiction of the IDF. I didn’t purchase the novel but watched the original film in its entirety and was very much benumbed with the results. From a purely artistic point of view, the film is simply gorgeous. Often surreal and hallucinatory at times, the viewer often feels himself being drifted along, interrupted by brief, temporary moments of Satori before the concluding brutal withdrawal. Politically, analysis on the film proves to be a far more complex task. The IDF is never portrayed in a positive light but is certainly humanised. Much like the actions of American soldiers during the My Lai Massacre, much of the atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers in the film were rooted down to fear. Upon landing on a beach, soldiers open fire at anything that moves including a civilian car, killing the family itself. While this is certainly no justification for killing civilians, it certainly does explain the numerous accounts in the modern world, where well disciplined troops break down and inevitably commit atrocities due, primarily to fear. My main criticism on the film is that it never portrays any intentional acts of violence of the IDF towards civilians in which there were plenty. It often hints on the barbarity of the army, indiscriminately bombing Lebanese cities, but these are removed and attention is focused mainly on Israeli fear and carelessness. It should, however, be understood that the story is told from the perspective of an Israeli soldier. Like most soldiers of an occupying force, they have little understanding of the political situation beyond the concept of a dehumanised enemy which the state constantly beats into their heads. Even then, however, the “enemy” is almost nonexistent in the film. Soldiers spend most of their time firing into thin air, bombing cities and destroying cars and flats. Despite this, the film is revolutionary in its sharp defiance of the blind patriotic, expansionist policies of the Israeli state and of the rising right wing views of the public.
Aljazeera reported that the Israeli government officially approved of the film since it clarified that Israeli soldiers didn’t carry out the massacres in Lebanon, as if that somehow cleared the blame from the shameless barbarity of the Israeli state and military. In fact, if anything, the film clarifies Israel’s direct involvement in the massacres. The IDF provided cover for the Phalange militia, fired flares at night in order to aim they carry out the atrocity and simply sat back and let it happen until morning where thousands had already been killed. There is a deep psychological explanation behind this presentation with soldiers in the film describing the camp as identical to the Warsaw ghetto. The film is directed and based upon Ari Folman, who had relatives in Auschwitz, presents his experience in the camps in the shadow of the holocaust, taking the metaphorical role of a Nazi, drawing comparisons with SS behaviour in the concentration camps and IDF behaviour during the massacres. Commentary, an American-Jewish magazine commented;
“As vilely anti-Semitic as it is to compare Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis, it is perfectly natural for Israelis to think of the Holocaust in certain situations, because they, unlike other peoples, still live in the Holocaust’s shadow."
I would agree that it is completely natural for Israelis to compare their experiences with that of the holocaust. The holocaust itself was the very least, a brutally soul-destroying event signifying the destruction of humanity in the blitz of the madness which defined the twentieth century. Comparing the actions, however, of the Israeli state and army to the Nazis as Anti-Semitic? A state founded upon the principle of a militaristic and expansionist ideology, created by immigrants with no historical connection to the land other than an abstract religious concept, excluding members of any other religious and ethnic group and routinely carries out ethnic cleansing and acts of brutality isn’t at all similar to the action of the Nazis? Sure, it’s not to the same scale but in essence, it’s the same thing. Does the history of brutal treatment towards the Jewish people render Israel immune from criticism?
Indeed, I’m more inclined to agree with the review by Haaretz which described the film as;
“Stylish, sophisticated, gifted and tasteful - but propaganda for portraying Israel and the IDF in a too positive light”
Politically, the film isn’t perfect, however if looked upon in context of the story, it does little to take the blame away from the behaviour of the Israeli military in Lebanon. Overall, it’s a piece of Israeli cinema history. Beautifully animated, humanely heartbreaking and in the end, further hope that ordinary Israelis may one day recognise the injustice of their government and realise that coexistence with the Palestinians is the only solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict.