Here's the link to the video of the song by Massive Attack. I've seen this video at least a few times now and I've always found the song quite empowering. From the first time, the song has been a real work of art for me (When I say art, I mean it in a sense that all you see is not all what that can be seen. I don't know squat about art as seen by professional artists). The song starts off with a guy holding two metal balls (implying people think that they have balls of steel but are actually held in the hands of the powerful? - especially when viewed holistically - as the zoom out suggests) in one hand and holding a dog wearing shades in the other. Then, as the song begins, a guy and group of other people (some bearing close resemblance to the dog) are unveiled (probably suggests that the powerful control their men like their dogs). The song then progresses through the back alleys where kids are seen running across streets and another kid shooting at the viewer with a toy gun as a lady (the singer) in dark clothes begins to take focus. The ensuing scenes are rich and include various characters of different colors, races, personalities and abilities and there're vivid details of surroundings (the streets, shops, buildings, activities) captured in the background of the lady in stark black clothes. The song's lyrics possibly indicates towards the lady's possibilities of finding love for a partner and the aching she's going through knowing there's the potential for something good (that could falter?). All this time, I found this song empowering simply because the music ignites a sense of hope in a somewhat bleak environment. Especially, the scenes of a man walking with a kid as they go past a shop (possibly after the man convinces the kid that he'll the get the kid what he wants another day), the man (who's legs are amputated) on a skateboard who nonchalantly makes his way through the street and the old couple sharing a kiss - all these trigger a sense of hope. This presumably reinvigorates a fond longing that in one's life, despite some seeming struggles there are going to be moments that are worth cherishing; a moment where one finds strength, where one finds compensation, a moment where one is uplifted by love and sense of belonging. Then I thought about the song and the lady's attire. She has an aching for a potential love and yet the scenes of the surrounding show no indication of single person. Could this be the aching, not for a single person but an aching of a potential love from the whole of humanity (hence the scenes of humans)? She has a single dark dress. Does the darkness of the attire (worn by human herself) indicate a natural destructive inclination of humans that will never fulfill its potential of finding peace?(hence the fading away towards the end in untold and uncertain way)
