This song portrays a strong political message and the video emphasises this even more.
It shows the Foo Fighters performing the song in an air plane hanger. The air plane hanger is the only location in the whole video and is a very simple set; featuring the band on one end of it, with a very large solid glossy red screen behind them throughout the video.
The fact that the director isolated them in an empty air plane hanger makes the political lyrics stand out, as the singer shouts “What if I say I will never surrender…”, “Keep you in the dark you know they all pretend…” and “You’re the pretender.”. During these lyrics, what appears to be a riot police officer walks on to the opposite side of the ice rink, who prepares himself behind the middle black line as if he is about to charge.
The band is facing this police officer and the main singer is singing as if aiming the song at him. This is backed up with close-ups of the singer looking at the man angrily and pointing. There are also close-ups and mid-shots of the other band members who are violently playing their instruments as if to portray their anger as well.
Due to the set’s simplicity and general emptiness, we are made to wonder what the massive red screen is doing there behind the band, and if it has a purpose.
As the video progresses, other similar officers, who again stand in line along the black line on the floor facing the band, join the single police officer. There are close ups of their weapons and shields and also their faces built with anger also. This makes them look intimidating but the Foo Fighters are looking like they are up for a fight.
The video builds up to a bridge just before their last chorus, where there is a very quiet and light music part. There are crane shots and panning of the officers looking on to the Foo Fighters, and as the music builds, there is a long shot of them all closing their helmets and getting ready to charge. There are lots of cuts between the lead singer and police officers that are in time to the beat showing angry faces again to show they just as they are about to charge.
The officers then start running and charge at the band which is in slow motion, and just as they get closer and at the loudest part of the song, the massive screen behind the band suddenly erupts and a red water-like liquid shoots past and through the band and appears to overwhelm and throw the officers off course. The last chorus sounds louder and angrier than before. The band keep playing despite this out burst of liquid all over them, showing their power against the riot police.
It is clear that the guards were defeated as the song ends, and the front man slams his guitar on the floor and falls to his knees to what I assume is to represent the exhaustion after the “battle”.
The video is both narrative and performance-based as it tells a story while they are playing. I feel this video is very effective as the video sums up the song perfectly. The editing is to the beat of the song and help create the tension through out.
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