Joe Strummer Documentary

I had a chance tonight to go see the new Joe Strummer documentary at the Little Theatre in Rochester with my friend Kevin, who I hadn’t seen in way too long–a few months. I’m a big fan of The Clash—many of you know that my ringtone, the only ringtone I’ve ever had, for the past few years has been “Should I Stay or Should I Go”—but, I never really followed Joe Strummer’s post-Clash work with the Mescalaros. My friend Kevin has though. He’s a much bigger fan than I am. The film chiefly focused on Strummer, from childhood to death, and surprisingly, the best parts weren’t the parts covering The Clash’s height of success; they were the bits about his childhood and his depression and soul searching after he stupidly disbanded the group.

I wouldn’t recommend this film for the casual fan or one who is unacquainted with the rough biographical details of The Clash because throughout the film there are no tags or titles introducing the people on screen being interviewed or the voices narrating or the periods of time in which certain things occurred. The film is a bit over two hours long, and it probably took me thirty minutes to figure out who many of the people talking were. Some of the interview bytes included are from really unsuspected sources, like hollywood actors such as Steve Buscemi and Johnny Depp (who is completely ridiculous in his segment—looks just like Captain Jack, so he must’ve been in the middle of filming Pirates—and had nothing important to say and no firsthand knowledge). I had no idea that Joe Strummer’s Hollywood connections ran so deep. Even Jim Jarmusch was involved in the making of the film.

Joe Strummer’s story is a big and important one to tell, and even though the film runs over two hours, it still seems as though the viewer is being sped through certain segments of the story. Some of the transitions are really abrupt. But, one of Strummer’s big things after he broke up The Clash was having big bonfire parties with his friends, and the whole film was interspersed with beautiful clips of his friends at a bonfire in London talking about his life. In fact, the celebrity interviews were shot at the bonfires as well, and all of these segments are really gorgeous and work seamlessly with the thematic tone of Strummer’s life.

The Clash, even after many, many years, are still refreshing to listen to and never feel outdated. This film did the same thing for me: Strummer’s simple philosophy and political and intellectual activism are refreshing. People don’t really say it or think it enough, but Joe Strummer did every single day of his life: “Remember that you’re alive” and that “The future is unwritten.” I mean, he was by no means a perfect guy in his family life or the public eye, but he was certainly living, and it’s immediately evident the profound effect that he had on not just the people he knew intimately, but the millions of people around the world who know his records intimately. I gotta go relisten to all The Clash records now.

Oh, and I still need to go see No Country for Old Men and Margot at The Wedding. I’m hoping to see both of those in the next week or two.