By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
Opening for a one week run
at Mayfair Theatre – Ottawa
Wacken 3D is a very nicely made and introspective look at one of the biggest heavy metal open air festivals held in Europe. The story is told from the point of view of visitors from outside of Europe (from America to Thailand to India) and it’s getting a special Cineplex-wide and selected Landmark Cinema appearance in a limited engagement on Thursday, October 29, 2015.
When metal heads descend upon the sleepy village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the residents here do not seem to mind. In what this film nicely shows is the camaraderie of how people from various cultures get along. The candidness that’s revealed when they talk for the cameras about this subculture is refreshing to hear, and this documentary by Norbert Heitker focuses more on them than just the music. He nicely balances the piece out with some terrific clips of the bands playing, like Rammstein. To list all the bands here would fill up more than a page, and about a dozen bands are featured in this documentary.
Even higher profile performers like Alice Cooper talk about how appreciative they are about what this mega concert represents. The acts from the 2013 show are terrific. When people can’t afford to make the pilgrimage, this special 3D movie presentation is the next best thing. The views from the stage give audiences a unique perspective and when that’s filmed with 3D cameras, the depth is really exemplified. Had these cameras also been placed in strategic locations on the floor, it would have caught the fireworks spectacular too.
For the bands involved like Deep Purple or Wirrwahr, they are only half the magic of what can be experienced at this festival. It’s a fusion of colours, sound and art. As Scott Ian from Anthrax points out,”A lot of bands, to me, are just comic books or movies with guitars added to it.”