The camerawork by Derek Brown and Alex Knapp is top quality, with both squeezing the hundred colors of India out all at once. These sequences contain an uncontrollable beauty that hits you like a Dr. Marten to the third eye. Essig spends most of Something Divine showing what Raghunath ran to, with not so much time on what he ran from. Those wanting the definitive film on the Youth Of Today are not going to find it here but will find something they might like better. Also, it is impressive how much of the hardcore scene is fleshed out over a few key details highlighted. It also seems Raghunath is not that interested in looking backward and digging up old mohawks.
It is surprising which details are blacked out, like how the film doesn’t mention that Youth Of Today was a straight-edge band. Moby brings up the band’s vegan stance but doesn’t mention the teenage boys pledging themselves to celibacy and sobriety. Straight Edge was a philosophy where you don’t take drugs or have sex. Just take off your shirt and smash into other boys’ shirtless bodies. Leaving out that distracting factoid was a stroke of brilliance, as it would have drawn from the revelations achieved like a black hole.
Courtesy of Thomas Essig
“…contain an uncontrollable beauty that hits you like a Dr. Marten to the third eye.”
The interviewees’ profound healing of major fissures in their lives with these teachings is evident. They clearly reject the material sphere for a more spiritual existence and enjoy the benefits that come with it. The people interviewed are not identified by name subtitles until the end credits when there are mostly first names and no explanation of who they are.
Are they rebels or devotees? In the end, it doesn’t matter as the ego only gets in the way of happiness. Something Divine is a mosh of love that will keep spinning in a lot of viewers’ heads.
"…hits you like a Dr. Marten to the third eye. "
