Who directed the music video for Metallica's 1991 song “The Unforgiven”?

Matt Mahurin directed the music video for Metallica's 1991 song “The Unforgiven.”

The video was filmed in Los Angeles in September 1991 and premiered on November 19 of that year. Its stark black-and-white imagery follows a boy born in captivity who grows old inside a windowless stone room.

The story centers on confinement, time, and the desire for escape. The character repeatedly works on the stone around him and protects a key, creating a symbolic visual narrative rather than a straightforward band-performance clip.

Mahurin also directed the later video for “The Unforgiven II,” released in connection with Metallica's 1997 album Reload. That sequel relationship can cause confusion, but Mahurin directed both videos, while Wayne Isham directed “Enter Sandman.”