"THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD!" Directs the plate that opens the film. Lets take it as advice: "The Last Waltz" deserves to be heard at full volume.
There's something about movies that begin with the end of the story. How could it be otherwise for a film that, according to one of their players, Robbie Robertson, shows what would be "the beginning of the beginning of the end of the beginning" for The Band, "The Last Waltz" opens with the band returning to stage for the encore.
"The Last Waltz" is the name given to the farewell concert of The Band, formed the legendary band by Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm and Richard Manuel, known for having accompanied Bob Dylan on his controversial shift to electric rock, and one of the biggest bands in history. The event takes place on the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, the first place where the band was formally presented as "The Band" in the Thanksgiving Day 1976, after massive turkey dinner and waltz round to the public.
After 16 years on the road together, it's time to say goodbye. Of course, if we do it, do it well, thought the boys, and that's how the project started as a simple concert was of an extensive parade scene of some of the greatest figures of the music, and what many describe as "the greatest rock concert ever filmed." Surprised by the names of those responsible. Friends invited: Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Neil Young, Dr. John, Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, The Staple Singers and Ronnie Hawkins, on the side of musicians, poets Lawrence more Ferlinghetti (famous for being part of the Beat Generation and owning the City Lights bookstore, where Allen Ginsberg first read "Howl") and Michael McClure. Responsible for recording the event with the camera: nothing more and nothing less than Martin Scorsese, and an experienced music lover said, because by then this business of rock movies.
From the darkness of the stage listening to the greeting of the band. Then turn on the lights. Up On Cripple Creek, one of the most characteristic of the group, kicks off a concert that promises much for those 5000 viewers during the next 5 hours observed speechless (not know everything in store for the night) a top summits in the history of rock.
The picture is awesome. It is possible that a rock concert has never seen such a mise en scene: the lighting perfectly complement each moment of a night you will not save on emotions, enormous chandeliers are distributed by an unrecognizable Winterland prom dress for the occasion, the scene of the San Francisco Opera has been brought only for tonight, all courtesy of Boris Leven, one of the Scorsese recruited to record for posterity the last waltz.
The Band does not disappoint. During the show will tour many of the great themes of his repertoire, interpreting them in a really perfect (sunset Robertson on guitar). The sound is strong, but not for a moment lost emotion. Quite the contrary: the melancholy that generates the impending end of an era is almost tangible in this scenario. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", that great and exciting theme, played at full volume, is perhaps the highest point of the concert in this regard. Perceived in that split second, just before the start of the chorus, as the band takes a breath to dive fully into the chorus, with the utmost of their strength, like last time. And they sound so good, one can not help but wonder why they are separating when they still have much to offer.
The theme of the film are fragments of interviews by Scorsese with members of the group days after the concert, Shangrila, the club owned studio become The Band in Malibu. So now the show is interspersed with footage of the band telling their story and some anecdotes from the road, the kind that we like them all.
There are two elements that make the film, and are the concert and film. But Scorsese's talent is that fuses film and music to perfection. At times one wonders whether fiction or reality is what you see. Each nod between them, every expression, everything is recorded by the camera at the right time as if it had been planned. Nothing escapes.
When you think you can not get better, happening one after another memorable renditions of memorable songs. A visibly moved Neil Young takes the stage to perform with rock voice hurt "Helpless," the legendary Muddy Waters doing "Mannish Boy", Van Morrison wrapped in shiny crosses the stage in "Caravan", Clapton teaches how to play blues and faces "Further On Up The Road." More significant than the choice of repertoire of Bob Dylan, a must for tonight (in every sense: Warner agreed to finance the film only on condition that Dylan is present), white hat with red feather, which by way of goodbye who were for a long time their fellow travelers, performs "Forever Young" and ends with an electric version of "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down."
closure at full speed, all over the stage, more Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood, for "I Shall Be Released", the song written by Dylan in the days of Big Pink in Woodstock, when The Band was simply "banda".
power stronger than we could imagine, knowing glances, the perfect sync, the silent understanding between the people who know what they want at perfection. Is there anything cooler than being a rock star?
(When you have come to the end, my appreciation and recommendation: watch the movie)
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