An Homage to the Pop Masters

Rating: 5/10 (7 February 2008)

Rarely has an attempt to interpret the music of the Beatles through covers or another medium been successful to the extent the film makers here have succeeded. In this homage to the American era of the 1960s and the musical quartet whose legacy has come to be regarded as the definitive artifact of that era, rightly or not, the artistic expression achieved is reminiscent of the printed "Illustrated Beatles" which was published with the benefit of the Beatles yet together at the height of their influence and creative genius.
That said, the viewer must go into this latest response to the Beatles formidable body of work with an open mind: purists might be offended, the uninitiated will be forever impressed, arguably inaccurately by what he or she sees.
There is a plot here, a boy meets girl, boy loses girl simple plot, the chronology of which roughly corresponds to the years of 1962 to 1970. What this plot lacks in drama or complexity is quickly disregarded for the realization that it exists only as a vehicle to introduce the observer to the more awesome and stunning impressions of the events, and the Beatles musical contribution to the period of the 1960s conveyed through a series of often truly inspired music video vignettes.
There are incredibly inspired visual expressions here, music videos if you will, of the Beatles' music interpreted through an historical lens pertinent to the events of that time such as the Vietnam War. The Army induction scene is simply breathtaking. Another spectacular example of the success these film makers have achieved in mating visual images to the Beatles music is the Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite vignette. Simply spectacular.
Unfortunately, using the Beatles music to interpret the events of the Vietnam War and the social realities of the American 1960s has submerged hazards upon which even the best intended production can founder. And here there is trouble. The video vignette accompanying John Lennon's paean to his childhood school, Strawberry Fields, was frankly offensive. What was intended as a sublimely introspective, yet childlike and innocent look back at his youth was turned, by these film makers into something much darker, ugly and violent. This is a tragic flaw. In other instances, such as Blackbird, the music video vignette does not readily correspond to the artist's original intent. And in at least one case, the lyrics had to be edited in another of Lennon and McCartney's pieces to make that song fit the plot line of the story. But then again, even the best directors and actors have edited Shakespeare. The difference is, however, that the Bard's intent is usually well preserved.
On critical and political side notes, the producers seemed to have cared little about the meaning and intent behind Lennon and McCartney's lyrics and at least once used this film to further an apparent bias towards the Democratic administration of Lyndon Johnson using audible slogans during an anti-war march scene, yet ignoring the truly malevolent and much more violent "surge" by the next Republican president, Richard Nixon, who eventually used the awesome power of the State to actually try and bar John Lennon from residency in the United States. It was during the Nixon presidency that Lennon's anti-war zeal really blossomed, not during Johnson's. A more historically faithful and honest film would have included at least an oblique reference to that ugly part of the story of the American Sixties.
This reviewer has only two overriding concerns, that the images associated to some songs are offensive and that young people, new to the "scene" will be forever impressed, incorrectly, by some of these images.
This film, Across the Universe, all things considered, however, is a must see for any sensitive spirits whose hearts are more often inspired by the angels of their better natures.