Woodstock (1970)

Woodstock
Directed by Michael Wadleigh
1970/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

We are stardust
We are golden
We are billion year old carbon
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden. (“Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell)

One part concert film, one part spectacle, and one part close looks at the hippies in the crowd — this documentary works on many levels.

I watched the almost four-hour director’s cut which includes about an additional hour, mostly of acts that did not appear in the documentary including Janis Joplin.  I would have happily watched something double the length.  These musicians (and others) were in their prime: Joplin, The Who, Santana, Crosby Stills & Nash, Sly & the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix.

The film also captures the monumental feat the organizers carried out.  This thing attracted half-a-million people that swamped all kind of planning and turned the event into a free concert.  It became a small city, occupied solely by young people high on various substances, complete with soup kitchen and hospital.  And all this without any major violence or police presence.  Could we do this again?  We couldn’t even do it again in 1969.

The filmmaking is incredible.  There is liberal use of aerial shots, split screens, and all the bands have a different “feeling”.  I don’t think anyone could have done any better with the material.  Wadleigh was assisted by Martin Scorcese and his regular editor Thelma Schoonmker both in shooting and in the editing room   Most highly recommended.

Woodstock won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Feature.