Kristopher Steen:
Refused Are Fucking Dead (Sweden, 2006)
Production: Burning Heart Records / Epitaph.
38 min - DVD. English subtitles. No Finnish subtitles.
Refused Are Fucking Dead is a documentary on the last tour by the Swedish punk band Refused. Their album Shape of Punk to Come (1998) is still considered as a modern punk rock classic and a reformer of the genre. Sadly, though, the band exhausted themselves during the never-ending tour that followed the release of the album and eventually split up onstage in an American punk club while the police was pulling the wires off their amplifiers.
Refused Are Fucking Dead is a dramatic and very personal tale of a band disintegrating. Gestated for years, the documentary is directed by the Refused guitarist Kristopher Steen, so evidently you can blame the film for many things but not for its outsiderness or for unfamiliarity with its subject matter. Steen's manner of leading the story fits perfectly the band's passionate music. Refused enjoyed the fame as a savage live act and had a strong influence to the punk, rock and metal of the Noughties. Refused Are Fucking Dead is a rare opportunity to meet with the band posthumously.
