If you are passionate about the Beatles you cannot miss this beautiful documentary made by the American director Ron Howard (yes, Richie Cunningham). Someone will say: “Nice smart guy! A Beatles movie is a sure hit. ”
Personally I have never seen a film of him even if in 2002 he won an Oscar as best director for “A Beautiful Mind” also awarded as best film plus two other Oscars (4 in total), at least it seems to me; I like the cinema but I am not a frequent visitor, also because I am a bit demanding.
Certainly Ron Howard has had access to quite a lot of material and, I think, he is a huge Beatles fan, I heard it on the radio at the Hollywood Party but you can also tell by watching the film.
The documentary focuses on the 1963-1966 period of the legendary English band, during which they held 250 concerts around the world and at the end of which the group decided to stop performing live and concentrate on studio work.
I admit, my judgment on the film cannot be taken as a film critic, I’m not up to par, and I’m too passionate so I always like to see video material on the musicians I like.
However, I recommend watching this film, first of all to test once again the skill of these four musicians; the remastering of the audio of the concerts presented is truly remarkable, the screams of the audience have been somewhat reduced and what comes out is the sound of the Beatles of that historical period.
The rhythmic beat that takes up the tradition of the best American rock’n’roll steeped in country blues, the beautiful guitars, both rhythmic and solo, with the sound of the tube amps and little else, the wonderful lead vocals and harmonizing choirs that characterize so particularly the music of the Beatles.
What can I say, if there was a group that played like this today it would be equally overwhelming, at least for me and I think many other people.
Then there is the sociological aspect of the phenomenon, that is the particular configuration of the historical period, that world in turmoil, the fact that teenagers were in the majority compared to other age groups, the sincerity of the musical expression and of the characters who they immediately made them feel like friends or somehow their own side.
The strong friendship of the four who, supporting each other, tried to keep up with the stress of what from that moment will be the pop rock star system that before then had appeared perhaps with Elvis but not of that size.
There had never been anyone who needed to play in stadiums no matter how crowd it attracted, it was an absolute novelty.
The group’s stance was that American concerts were not subject to the racial segregation that was customary in many parts of the United States at the time.
Then the many facts, some known others a little less, witnessed both by the two Beatles who remained alive with clips of the two disappeared, and by other characters interviewed, which determined their story and the decision to devote themselves more to work in the studio where then they made memorable songs and albums.
The film is only available on DVD, the entire concert at Shea Stadium in New York in 1966 is shown in the queue.
