Reviews

Visually stunning and impressively emotional enough to be a worthy coda to a great band’s brief existence as well as simply a compelling piece of artistic cinema, the DVD fails as a encapsulation of the band as a narrative.  More concisely: Refused Are Fucking Dead is a sad story told poorly yet beautifully. 
 
Shot like a thriller with dramatic angles, beautiful cinematography, and a stunning score, Refused Are Fucking Dead is an enthralling documentary - easily the most watchable in it’s genre.  There is a distinct emotional arc to the film that climaxes with a calculated but effective exercise in effective editing.  Atmospherically, the movie is as lovingly and painstakingly rendered as The Shape Of Punk To Come - however: don’t expect to learn much about the band. Years and relationships are glossed over and even the breakup of the band - the very crux of the film - remains shrouded in vagaries.
 
RAFD is a five star experience brought down by limited extras and the nagging feeling that there continues to be too much left unsaid.  There is the perfect chance in the nature of Refused - what it was and what people perceived it to be - to really examine punk ethos, the paradox of punk fame and loss of credibility, the limiting nature of an underground circuit built on house shows and disreputable venues... The list goes on.
 
Refused give fans a final, beautiful farewell, but still keep much of themselves hidden.  They will not be splayed out on the worldwide operating table, innards dripping into pans while we peer at them through microscopes, dissecting lives we never lived ourselves.  Refused Are Fucking Dead is a dignified burial, but we are grave robbers - and we demand to see the corpse.