From “Metallica: One (Official Music Video)” by Metallica Metallica
Metallica's One: war-film clips and the band performing
Black-and-white war scenes meet a band in blue light.
Key points
- The video opens with a soldier whose cerebrum has suffered massive and irreparable damage, and the doctor says he would not have let the man live without being sure of that brain damage. 0:22
- The video defines a deselebrated person as one who cannot experience pain, pleasure, memory, dreams, or thought of any kind. 1:16
- Across the song, the narrator is kept alive by machines after the war and asks to be cut off from life so he can stop suffering. 2:52
- The soldier says he cannot live and cannot die by himself, so his life depends on others acting for him, and he pleads for someone to help him live. 4:58
- The video links war to democracy by claiming that, for democracy, any man would be expected to give up his only son. 0:44
Things to notice on screen
- Singer at microphone — A singer with long dark hair sings into a microphone in blue light.
- Band in warehouse — Guitarists and a drummer perform in a large room with tall barred windows.
- Nurse with drip stand — A woman in a white nurse's cap stands beside a drip stand and uniformed men in a black-and-white scene.
- Toast in crowd — A man raises a glass among a crowd of people in aprons and light dresses under a decorated tree.