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Film director Murray Lerner's latest DVD/CD ROM release
The Other Side Of The Mirror: Live At The Newport Folk Festival
1963-1965 showcases concert performances by Bob Dylan
all filmed in black and white. The footage covers Dylan's shows
at Rhode Island's famed Newport Folk Festival in the years 1963,
1964, and 1965. What is important about these years for Bob Dylan
is that this was a pivotal time for him, documenting his rise
into stardom. Audiences see him go from a humble folk artist having
a common appearance like the guys in the audience in 1963, to
being a world renown star by 1965 garbed in a black leather jacket,
wooly hair, and showing the confidence of a seasoned musician
that makes audiences feel star-struck. This manifestation happens
by the time Dylan is 24 years old in 1965.
Lerner creates an intimate setting for the audience with close-up
shots of Dylan as he is singing. Many times, Dylan's facial features
and body frame are silhouetted in blackness so you feel like you
are watching Dylan in the backroom of a bar and not at a gigantic
music festival. Only when Lerner pulls the shot back and you see
the smallness of the lighted tent where Dylan is singing and the
sea of people around it do you have a sense that this is a big
event. Lerner includes footage of Dylan singing many of his hits
during this period including "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Like
A Rolling Stone," "Maggie's Farm," and "Blowin'
In The Wind" which features the background vocals of folk
singer Joan Baez, the vocal group Peter, Paul And Mary,
and the vocal harmony quartet The Freedom Singers. Lerner
shows complete performances by Dylan with one short clip of Johnny
Cash at the 1964 Festival encouraging the crowd to applaud
Dylan for his set before going into his own song.
Lerner does not show any interviews with Dylan in the film,
but he does show a short interview with Joan Baez talking about
the kids in the audience and how Dylan fulfills their need to
say those things that they want to say. Lerner also includes
footage of Baez's and Dylan's live duets at the 1963 Festival
for the song "With God On Our Side" and at the 1964
Festival for the songs "It Ain't Me Babe" and again
"With God On Our Side." In 1963, Dylan seems to be
overpowered by Baez's husky vocals, but by 1964, Dylan's vocals
are more pronounced and limber as he puts more chord movements
in the songs so they sound fuller. The 1965 Festival shows Dylan
trading his acoustic guitar for an electric one but still relying
on the acoustics of a harmonica, which he borrows from an audience
member. It's a scene that is ironic, because by 1965 Dylan has
played on both sides of the Atlantic and had as much money as
the politicians whom he was saying in his songs are getting
rich by exploiting the common folks, and here he was doing the
same.
Lerner concludes the film with Dylan singing "It's All Over
Now, Baby Blue" and the final shot is a lonely microphone
stand on stage while the crowd applauds fervently as if pleading
for Dylan to sing more. It is folk singer Peter Yarrow,
who is the Master Of Ceremony at these festivals, that says about
Dylan, "He has his finger on the pulse of our generation"
in the film, and that sums up Dylan's mystique. His songs spoke
of the concerns of America's youth in the years 1963-1965 and
gave them the words that they were searching for to express themselves.
Lerner's film stays mesmerized on Dylan's performances so his
viewfinder becomes a fan of Dylan. The shortcoming of shooting
Dylan like this is that the film never shows the audience's link
to Dylan's music, it has to be inferred. Lerner comments in his
"Interview" segment on the disc that Dylan was a "High
Priest" for these audiences. Back in the early '60s, Dylan
was credited for motivating nonconformity among America's youth,
but looking back, Dylan was like anyone else in the crowd only
he could write striking lyrics that made people stop and think
about their actions and the actions of others. Luckily, Dylan
was provided a platform to speak his mind out loud and Lerner
filmed it.
Lerner's film documents a time that has passed, and yet, it
has relevance by inspiring modern day musicians to communicate
what their generation is trying to say, whether that be to question
people in positions of authority and influence or to make observations
about the world around him. More than anything though, the film
has sentimental value for the people of Dylan's generation.
For Lerner, making this film allowed him to romanticize about
a time that changed his life for the better, and people of Lerner's
age will find this film meaningful.
-Susan Frances
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