Gimme Shelter

I actually read up a bit on the main subject matter of this film prior to watching. I wouldn't normally, but the detail was gripping. One of the triumphs of the film is that no level of knowledge could spoil it, because of the brilliant opening. The opening itself takes this beyond a traditional documentary. No doubt when it was made the film makers felt this was necessary, as the final events meant that this *wasn't* a normal documentary any more. This will have started as a simple documentary following the Rolling Stones on their US tour. Because of complaints over ticket prices, and no doubt in light of the success earlier in the year of Woodstock, they decided to put on a massive free concert at Altamont. The documentary gives some very interesting insight into what's involved in setting something like that up. However, the concert itself was a landmark because of the antagonism and violence on display throughout the day, culminating in a death. The film kicks off with a band member discussing with the film makers this fact and reviewing footage, and this is an ongoing motif that ties the film together nicely. If you were a fan of the rolling stones this will probably be a five star film. I'm not, and wasn't therefore especially interested in the early concert footage. However, it was interesting to see what a great showman Mick Jagger was. The film succeeds in its exploration of the build up to the violence, in particular the hiring of the Hells Angels as security, without ever forcing any conclusions on the viewer. The reality is this concert when down as the death of peace and love, just a few months after Woodstock was seen as its zenith. This is a fascinating film, with an excellent dvd extra of a radio phone in the day after, where many of the main protagonists spoke.

Oddly, the documentary opens with the Stones doing two pub-rock versions of Jumping Jack Flash and Satisfaction, it sounds pretty awful and the kind of live rock instigated by The Who hasn't come about yet.

Otherwise, it's obvious there's a culture clash going on as the hippy chick idealism clashes with the Hells Angels and dark intent of the Stones songs such as Gimme Shelter and Under My Thumb, not to mention the occasional cool black dude in the white, middle-class audience trying to both stand out and be inconspicuous. It's faintly patronising as of course the Stones have nicked black R&B for their own ends. Then you have black star Tina Turner blowing them all away on stage... It feels like an accident waiting to happen.

During the playback, Charlie Watts is unexpectedly cool, Jagger is expectedly cool Keith is largely absent with flashes of selfishness, brief Stone Andy Taylor gets a lot of screen time but seems a bit gormless, and where is Bill Wyman?

Having seen a review on The Culture Show back in July this year with film critic Mark Kermode, I was eager to see GIMME SHELTER. It certainly is a very good documentary, and watching the actual footage of the Altamont concert, you get a real sense of dread and impending tragedy, as the concert spirals out of control and ends in tragedy as the Hells Angels combat violence with violence, culminating in the death of a spectator. I found the effect of watching the Stones in concert, and then cutting back to Mick Jagger watching the edited footage in the cutting room slightly disconcerting though. GIMME SHELTER is a good companion piece to SHINE A LIGHT, Scorsese's more recent rockumentary. But on the whole, if you like The Stones, this is not to be missed.