Matt Mahurin directed Metallica’s “The Unforgiven” music video from The Black Album.
The black-and-white video tells a symbolic story about a barefoot, shirtless boy born into captivity. He grows old inside a windowless stone room, repeatedly trying to create an opening and carrying a key that represents his only possession.
Mahurin filmed the video in Los Angeles in September 1991, and it premiered on November 19 of that year. An extended theatrical version runs 11 minutes and 33 seconds, adding introductory material before the main story.
“The Unforgiven” was the second single from Metallica and followed “Enter Sandman.” Its video is frequently confused with the “Enter Sandman” clip, which Wayne Isham directed and which uses a child’s nightmares as its central imagery. The two videos were both made during the album’s breakthrough period but have very different visual narratives.