WHY “GET BACK” IS THE FINEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY EVER
And why The Beatles are every bit as vital now as they were in 1969
It is a truism that we are whom we choose to spend time with. The company we keep can shape us, often defines us. So, what does the opportunity to spend almost eight hours of close-up time with the greatest cultural force of the twentieth century mean then? And that too, with 52 years of hindsight?
This is why Get Back (on Disney+Hotstar) is quite simply the greatest music documentary ever made. In fact, it is also the greatest document of the creative process in any medium, captured on film till date.
“More than any ideology, more than any religion, more than Vietnam or any war or nuclear bomb, the single most important reason for the diffusion of the Cold War was The Beatles.”
- Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union
The film is a product of both its times. 1969, when it was shot — an era that is actually defined by this level of creative seeking and humility. And 2021, when it released— its 8-hour length (in three parts) not just conceivable but eminently actionable in the OTT era. From the year after the Hong Kong Flu began to the year after Covid-19 commenced — the last two global pandemics on this scale completing a full circle of 52 years. The latter pandemic — the main reason why it became an 8-hour film despite the originally planned 2.5 hours (as the Covid disruption made the director of this new version, Peter Jackson, go beyond the previously assigned 150-minute film he was making).
In January 1969, 28-year-old film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (later rumoured to be the son of Orson Welles) shot The Beatles for 21 days, trying to fulfil an impossible deadline in the studio. Unknown to everybody at the time (though there were more than enough rumblings), that was the last year of The Beatles as a band. The music that resulted from the sessions that Lindsay-Hogg captured on film would release posthumously the year after. His own 81-minute film, Let It Be, would also release in 1970, providing a downbeat portrayal of The Beatles breaking up. Due to the depressive blur of those events, that was deemed as the last word on the subject, by the band-members too.
“If the plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit, no one did that better than The Beatles.”
- Kurt Vonnegut, writer
So, 140 hours of audio and about 60 hours of video lay locked up in a vault for 46 years. Apparently, The Beatles did not want it seen or heard, on the suspicion that the contents were depressing and unpleasant. But in 2015, spearheaded by Paul McCartney apparently, this material was handed over to the maker of the Lord of the Rings trilogy Peter Jackson, who then spent four years editing this film with his team in New Zealand (where Jackson is from). The grainy 16 mm footage was gloriously restored by a technique Jackson and his team had used for his World War I documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old (that released in 2018). But even more significantly, the single track mono nagra recordings here were taken through a new technology to separate its audio components, thus revealing many conversations (and accompanying secrets, at times) that were hitherto inaccessible. Together, the footage and the revealing audio turns The Beatles narrative on its head, and redefines Beatles history.
“The Beatles were the first to actually find that middle path between the artistic and the intellectual, and at the same time still be on the street.”
- Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones
Far from depressed, Jackson found The Beatles upbeat and ebullient in the film. Despite moments of tension and drama, the footage also seemed to conclusively dismantle some myths (like Yoko’s presence in the studio breaking the band up). This “documentary of a documentary” shows Lindsay-Hogg struggling to make a film that he cannot really get a finger on, right till the end.
For context, this is about 9 months after The Beatles came back from India and just 3 months after they finished recording the sprawling and exhausting double album (called The White Album). John Lennon’s new partner Yoko Ono had had a miscarriage (which is also one reason why she was with Lennon in the studio right through— apparently, she was depressed and he did not want to let her out of his sight), and Lennon was also well on his way to becoming a heroin addict. George Harrison was going through his own marital problems while conversely, Paul McCartney was going through a hugely upbeat phase personally, as he had met Linda Eastman (whom he would marry in 1969, and adopt her daughter, who also features briefly in this film). Ringo Starr was working as an actor in a film (The Magic Christian with Peter Sellers), which is why there was this crazy rush to finish these new songs in this ridiculous small window of time.
“I am a musician only because The Beatles existed.”
- Sting, singer-songwriter
The result is a breathtaking and scarcely believable emotional journey with the Beatles as they record (some of) the last few songs of their career. The band is in crisis (the story of George Harrison leaving the band in rage and the sadness, even trauma, it causes for a while till he rejoins is shown beat-by-beat). But the bond between these talented individuals, who create something so brilliant collectively that is still hard to comprehend fully, makes this a joyous, riveting view, addictive even if you’re not a Beatles fan.
For further context, it is useful to know that the band had a clear system going in their functioning. Whoever thought of the song ran the rehearsals for that particular song; he was the boss for that song. It just happens that McCartney was the most prolific songwriter during the time this film was made, and therefore it gives the impression that McCartney is almost entirely running the show here, bossing them around. Though, he was the clearest-thinking and most ambitious member in the band at the time, and the most conscientious, given his concern about the deadline. It also helps to know that The Beatles had made a pact early on that they would not respond emotionally to any new song so as to not differentiate between them in any way (this explains why the reactions are usually so muted even when a new song is taking shape).
The entire film is just The Beatles working in a studio (astonishingly homegrown, even DIY — an indicator of their ethos), with their colleagues and staff members, summoning up the muses, crafting their songs, struggling with them, finding fruition, copious fooling around, lots of that delightful banter to go with thoughtful ways of getting to their goals.
“The Beatles were the sun coming up on Easter Morning.”
- John Updike, writer
And that’s the other thing about The Beatles — that is so vividly captured in the film. They palpably loved making each other laugh — their humour was as big a part of their creative energy as their music was (in fact, the latter was also a byproduct of the first, as a consequence of their chemistry). In 1961, when their eventual manager Brian Epstein saw them on stage for the first time, he was actually taken up by that bantering persona rather than the music.
The light the film throws on the tender moments of creation (the song “Get Back” literally takes life in front of the cameras, for example) is unprecedented on this scale, in any art form. The Beatles’ “process” has also never been examined anywhere near like this; nobody’s has. It is not just about their songs but about their lives, their preoccupations — all of this culminates with such a palpable sense of humanity that it is overwhelming for its impact. To actually see the band members reacting to what can be considered the biggest crisis of their lives (the impending break-up of the band) is revelatory in so many ways. (That they would indeed break up within a year, that Lennon would die at 40, Harrison at 58, thus preventing a reunion that would have definitely, 100% happened, adds another powerful dimension to this).
One of the highlights is when 22-year-old Billy Preston (who would die at age 59 in 2006) becomes the “fifth Beatle” for a while, on electric piano — all that talent is matched by the empathy, generosity, honesty and humility on show, from all sides. The film dispels some myths (Yoko did not break up the band, as is evident from this film) and strongly confirms some suspicions (George was very palpably underestimated by both John and Paul as a songwriter; it is particularly ironic, because when the Beatles split up, George, in full bloom, was probably the most talented songwriter among all of them for a short while). It also demonstrates how, despite being the world’s biggest cultural entity, they simply could not find the space to do what they wanted to do the most — hone their music privately and play to small crowds — there’s a peculiar melancholy to that, and it runs through the film.
“The Beatles almost single-handedly rescued the Western musical system.”
- Howard Goodall, award-winning Classical composer
It is not just the songs which are timeless here but in a really strange way, everything we see when the Beatles are onscreen. It is all very contemporary, always will be, which particularly stands out when we exit right near the end to show the reactions on London streets to the rooftop concert (the last time the Beatles performed in public), which is very much of its time. But if a mobile phone rang while they were in the studio, it would not be incongruous. This timelessness is hard to explain; it’s almost otherworldly.
“The Beatles were my role model — they were four guys who kept each other’s negative tendencies in check, they balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum parts.”
- Steve Jobs, founder of Apple
How much we’ve dumbed down as a species should be apparent from the fact that these guys are all well below 30 here; forget the act of creating music that lasts five decades (and much longer, as it surely will), there is something in the very basic approach to what The Beatles are seeking with their talent in this moment in the film, both the ambition and humility of it, that is hard to comprehend in these times. Till the time we stop dismissing this as “nostalgia”, our downward spiral will continue. Perhaps this film can provide a window into that perspective in some way and help us raise ourselves again.
Don’t be swayed by so much of the 2021 media, with the pitiful contemporary levels of intelligence and perspective (especially the idiot Woke publications, not willing to give four white men due credit), telling you this is too inflated a film. Most will cite Peter Jackson’s previous “sprawling” work to come to this conclusion — that’s what we do in these times, using the past as a crutch to justify our inability to think clearly and independently in the present.
“I still turn up the radio when any Beatles song plays because I still haven’t gotten enough of them.”
- Jerry Seinfeld, stand-up comedian, writer, actor
Once again, think of the privilege of hanging out eight hours with arguably the most powerful cultural force in human history, close-up, in an intimate way, in a warm friendship. When they are not only absolutely at the top of their game artistically but also at their most thoughtful as human beings (while in The Beatles). Think of the historic significance of this material, the incredibly inspirational content for artists anywhere, forget just musicians.
Don’t just thank Jackson and his team for this, but Lindsay-Hogg and his team for shooting this incredible footage 52 years ago, to The Beatles for allowing this to be shot with so much honesty, and to the surviving Beatles for giving the go-ahead to put this out finally. Gratitude is not a bad place to enter this film from.
POST-SCRIPT:
It is really interesting to note that a lot of this raw material (especially the audio) has been made available to others and their interpretations or piecing together further clarifies the Beatles story. Like, the idea that George Harrison was being disrespected during this film is compellingly disproved here. John and Paul’s private conversation about George leaving in its entirety here is very revealing. Some very interesting context is added here as well. The myth about Yoko Ono breaking up the Beatles is dismantled here. Cleaned up audio footage just before the rooftop concert reveals so much here.