O documentário da BBC segue a vida de George
Harrison desde sua infância em Liverpool até o
sucesso dos Beatles, suas viagens à Índia e
a influência da cultura indiana sobre sua música.
Contêm cenas inéditas de entrevistas com Paul
McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Eric Idle,
Phil Spector e Tom Petty.
George Harrison: Living In The Material World
Um canteiro de tulipas enche a tela. Ao fundo
ouve-se o barulho do vento, alguém assobiando. De repente, um
rosto emerge das flores, olhando diretamente para a câmera:
George Harrison, com um enorme sorriso nos lábios
e o olhar penetrante de sempre. “Éramos George
e eu, sozinhos no quarto, olhando um para o outro, diretamente
nos olhos”, diz Martin Scorsese, relembrando o momento
em que começou a examinar os DVDs de fotos e vídeos
caseiros enviados por Olivia Arias, viúva do músico. “Foi
ali que eu vi que o filme tinha que ser feito”, conta
Scorsese sobre o momento em que decidiu filmar "George
Harrison: Living in a Material World".
Olivia vinha há anos reunindo e catalogando
o vasto material iconográfico deixado por Harrison,
um fã de
fotografia e cinema que documentara sua vida cotidiana em
fotos, filmes e vídeos caseiros, desde seus tempos
em Liverpool. Depois de ver "No Direction Home" (2005),
o documentário de Martin Scorsese sobre Bob Dylan,
Olivia decidiu que ele seria o diretor ideal para organizar
e dar um formato aos arquivos visuais de seu marido. Scorsese,
envolvido em outros projetos, hesitou durante algum tempo
- até aquela noite num quarto de hotel quando, por
uma mistura de curiosidade e tédio, ele finalmente
decidiu ver o primeiro DVD da coleção enviada
por Olivia.
George Harrison no início dos
anos 70, quando gravou o álbum "All Things
Must Pass
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“George gostava de cinema e gostava de filmar”,
diz Scorsese. “Provavelmente, naquela imagem, ele estava
apenas alinhando a tomada de cena. Mas o resultado, para
mim, foi altamente impactante. Através do cinema,
George estava olhando nos meus olhos.”
Esta ideia - fazer George Harrison olhar
nos olhos da plateia - guia "George Harrison: Living in the Material World",
o documentário de três horas e meia de duração
que acompanha a trajetória do músico, de Liverpool à casa
nas colinas de Los Angeles onde morreu, em novembro de 2001,
cantando mantras e, segundo Olivia, “iluminando todo
o quarto”.
A morte, na verdade, é outro tema importante do documentário.
Isso é estabelecido logo no início, depois
da imagem das tulipas, com amigos, família e colaboradores
- o filho Dhani, Eric Clapton, o presidente da produtora
Handmade Films, Ray Cooper - lembrando os últimos
momentos de George de um modo que ele certamente aprovaria:
com sorrisos e risadas. Compositor de “The Art of Dying”,
George tinha grande preocupação com o momento
do desenlace e, como fica aparente no documentário,
passou uma boa parte de sua vida, em suas próprias
palavras, “treinando para o momento final de transformação
radical de consciência.”
George Harrison Clique na imagem para amplia-la
Além da possibilidade de ver material
inédito
- fotos feitas por George no auge da Beatlemania, filmes
caseiros da restauração dos vastos jardins
de sua mansão nos arredores de Londres, George remixando "All
Things Must Pass" em seu estúdio doméstico,
os Traveling Wilburys tocando “Ghost Riders in the
Sky” na cozinha da casa de alguém, como um bando
de adolescentes entusiasmados - "Living in the Material
World" tem o grande mérito de compor um retrato
fascinante de um homem muito complexo, tão entusiasmado
por drogas quanto por meditação, amigo de cineastas,
membros de gangues de motoqueiros e iogues.
George Harrison
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E, correndo como um fio vital para unir tudo
isso, música, “o
modo que George tinha para expressar todo o turbilhão
que carregava na alma”, segundo Scorsese.
Na primeira parte do documentário, vemos o adolescente
tímido de Liverpool - dono, nas palavras de Paul McCartney,
de “uma cabeleira extraordinária” - crescendo
no olho do furacão da Beatlemania, guardando para
si um universo de percepções e perplexidades, à sombra
dos gigantes Lennon e McCartney. “Comecei a compor
como um exercício”, George diz numa entrevista
que parece ser do final dos anos 1970. “Eu pensei:
se esses dois conseguem, por que não eu?” Em
um momento breve mas particularmente poderoso, vemos George
assinando os documentos que oficializam o final dos Beatles,
enquanto entoa “Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, que isto
seja mesmo o fim”.
George Harrison
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A primeira parte termina com o jorro de criatividade
do seu primeiro álbum solo, "All Things Must Pass", “um
grande vômito de todas as coisas que George vinha criando
e guardando para si durante anos” diz Phil Spector,
hoje, envergando uma assustadora peruca loura.
A segunda parte ocupa-se do aprofundamento
espiritual de George - interrompido de tempos em tempos
por “entusiasmadas “ (nas
palavras do amigo Klaus Voorman) sessões de cocaína
-, sua paixão por automóveis velozes e sua
reaproximação
de John, Paul e Ringo.
Como em "No Direction Home", Scorsese mantém
todas as linhas narrativas abertas ao mesmo tempo, muitas
vezes voltando ao passado ou antecipando o futuro para aprofundar
o retrato de George muito além de “o Beatle
silencioso”. A música, ponto forte de qualquer
obra de Scorsese, é particularmente potente em "George
Harrison: Living in the Material World", exclusivamente
com obras de George, muitas vezes em demos e rascunhos, usadas
para comentar e ampliar as imagens de uma vida extraordinária.
What Martin Scorsese Didn't Want You To Know About George
Harrison
Ficha Técnica
Diretor: Martin Scorsese
Elenco: - documentário
Produção: Olivia Harrison, Martin Scorsese,
Nigel Sinclair
Fotografia: Robert Richardson
Duração: 208 min.
Ano: 2011
País: EUA
Gênero: Documentário
Cor: Colorido
Distribuidora: Não definida
Estúdio: BBC
NYFF ‘11 Review: Scorsese's George Harrison 'Material
World' Doc Is A Moving & Striking Portrait
Rock 'n' roll and Academy-Award-winning Italian
American filmmaker Martin Scorsese are inextricably linked.
After
decades of creating striking pictures soundtracked to the
likes of the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and the Phil
Spector-produced Girl Group strut and constructing documentaries
about some of the biggest giants in contemporary music
-- Bob Dylan ("No Direction Home:Bob Dylan"),
The Band ("The Last Waltz") and the Stones ("Shine
a Light") -- Scorsese finally turned his gaze to one
titan in rock he had yet to cross paths with, The Beatles.
Or more specifically in this case, the enigmatic "quiet" Beatle,
George Harrison (though trainspotters will note that "What
Is Life" is briefly featured in "Goodfellas").
Five years in the making, it's not unjust
to breathe the word Beatles in the sprawling, two-part,
three-and-a-half
hour "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," because
if you only stuck around for the first half and or walked
in late, you'd be vaguely excused if you had believed the
documentary was a Harrison-based doc on the Fab Four.
The Beatles
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Extensive and perhaps excessively-focused
on the underrated songwriter’s spiritual beliefs, ‘Living in the
Material World’ can’t possibly cover the life
of George Harrison and yet the immersive, marathon-long doc
sums it up quite successfully in what ultimately is a moving
and stirring portrait of the departed artist.
George Harrison in India
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Bifurcated, each half of the documentary could be split up
into “During The Beatles” and “Post-Beatles,” but
the only reason Scorsese lingers so comprehensively on
a well-documented period in rock history is that he understands
context is key – everything the young man experienced
in his formative days with the biggest band in the world
inexorably transformed him and laid the groundwork for
the man he would become. While die-hard Beatles or Harrison
fans might not find a lot of new insight in that first
half, it does have its purpose.
Non-linear, the documentary jumps around
in time to great effect, placing the demise of the Beatles
and the use of
one of Harrison’s greatest, most key and thematic songs,
the wise and melancholy “All Things Must Pass,” right
off the top of the doc, freeing itself from the trappings
of regular chronology.
George Harrison
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One of the key discoveries in the first half
of ‘Material
World’ is a Beatles-era Harrison observing early on
that the group achieved everything that people could ever
hope for – fame, fortune, power, status, influence
and more – at an incredibly young age, and came to
the realization that these accomplishments were empty and
there must be something more meaningful to life. In a way
it's as if Mount Everest has already been climbed and Harrison
has to find a new challenge, but the young man is wise enough
to discern going even bigger is foolhardy and futile.
What emerges quickly is a complex portrait
of an explorer – Harrison’s
blooming spirituality doesn’t appear to come from a
longing to fill a gaping hole in his internal life, but rather
a fortuitous realization that higher consciousness can lead
to a contented place for the soul to rest. And it's not an
entirely virtuous portrait either. While his initial meetings
with Ravi Shankar and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are crucial
highlights to his cognizant awakening, counterbalancing Harrison’s
mystical side is his “extreme,” doesn’t-suffer-fools-gladly,
easy-to-anger personality. Harrison's "split personality" is
mentioned several times -- his peaceful side and an angry
one -- and it's alluded that Harrison wasn’t the most
devout husband or boyfriend for that matter, and as his wife
Olivia Harrison says in the doc, “he had [his] own
Karma to work out.”
Thankfully the words “quiet Beatle” are never
uttered and what surfaces is not this superficial public
persona – a likeness of a internalized, taciturn musician – but
one with a profusion of things to express. However, overshadowed
by his older, more famous songwriting partners, John Lennon
and Paul McCartney, Harrison was obligated to stay in the
relative shadows during his Fab Four days.
George Harrison and Eric Clapton
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Using talking head interviews with Astrid
Kirchherr, Klaus Voormann (two key figures from the early
Hamburg, Germany
days that included former early-Beatles members Pete Best
and Stuart Sutcliffe), ex-wife Pattie Boyd, Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr, Jane Birkin, Eric Clapton and more, chapter
one of ‘Living in the Material’ world takes the
viewer through his blossoming Beatles songwriting endeavors
(“Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Here
Comes the Sun”) that would set him on his way right
up to the acrimonious demise of the band (featuring some
footage from the still-unreleased “Let It Be” film)
and foreshadows the exemplary solo career that was about
to materialize.
At last, like a dam-bursting revelation,
part two finally gets into All Things Must Pass, Harrison’s long-time-coming
debut record – an effusive triple album which featured
a then-whopping 22 songs. After being relegated to one or
two tracks on albums by the Beatles, Harrison outpoured;
clearly someone had been storing up a treasure trove of songs.
George Harrison
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Featuring interviews with Phil Spector, George
Martin, Neil Aspinall, Yoko Ono, Monty Python alum Eric
Idle and Terry
Gilliam and Tom Petty, the more satisfying second half of
the picture rounds out Harrison as a full-dimensional human
being and shows the first part as being complementary to
the second. While it's arguable that a preponderance of time
is devoted to over-enforcing the theme of Harrison as spiritual
seeker – All Things Must Pass is the only album given
any real detail – it’s clear that Scorsese is
preoccupied with discovering the truth about who the musician
was as a person rather than delivering a greatest hits highlight
reel of his accomplishments. While this may not fully satisfy
musciologist aficionados, what is undeniable impressive is
the booming, digitally remastered songs that transform familiar
Beatles and Harrison into what sound like awesome, towering
epics you're hearing for the first time. Part of the genius
of the doc itself is that like Harrison himself, Scorsese
lets the music do most of the talking.
MARTIN SCORSESE’S GEORGE HARRISON
DOCUMENTARY
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That said, overall, Harrison and Beatlemaniacs,
should feel (relatively) satisfied. Most of the important
milestones
are organically touched upon, including the historic Concert
for Bangladesh (one of the first early benefit concerts),
the Clapton/Boyd love triangle, his founding of Hand Made
Films (the landmark British film company he established to
finance his Monty Python friends’ film, “Life
of Brian”), The Traveling Wilburys period, his soundtrack
work ("Wonderwall"), his Friar Park estate restoration,
his 1999 home invasion and his death in 2001 after a long
battle with cancer.
Utilizing new interviews and existing footage
of all formats -- 8MM, 16MM, 35MM, crude VHS videotape,
etc. -- plus never-before-seen
footage culled from the Harrison family archives, Scorsese
and his editor David Tedeschi (“No Direction Home:
Bob Dylan”) create a marathon tapestry of Harrison’s
outer and inner life.
George Harrison: Living in the Material
World
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Considering the scope and life of the subject,
omissions in the George Harrison story are minor. We’ve heard
some half-joking grumblings about the absence of 1987’s
Cloud Nine (which spawned the hit “Got My Mind Set
On You”), but the chronicling of the more substantive
Traveling Wilburys period more than makes up for it. The
most glaring oversight (if you can even call it that)– taking
into account all the discussions of creating it -- is the
full story of Harrison’s first number one single, "My
Sweet Lord," from his debut album All Things Must Pass.
While
the songs' spiritual connections are documented, what’s
missing is the unpleasant aftermath. Harrison was successfully
sued by The Chiffons for copyright infringement on their
song "He's So Fine" in one of the first major cases
of such in rock history and in a protracted case that went
on for 10 years to boot. But something had to go and it’s
likely this unfortunate blemish would have been a tangent
that would have painted itself into a narrative corner. A ‘70s
drug problem seems to be glossed over as well, but there
are only so many minutes left.
George Harrison and Ravi
Shankar
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Veering away from hagiography with balanced,
candid testimonials and carefully chosen existing and unseen
footage, if anything, “George
Harrison: Living in the Material World” should wipe
away the idea of a quiet anyone. Instead, it replaces that
outdated notion with one of an eager collaborator of ideas
and a trailblazer willing to think outside Western world
conventions and apply that philosophy into a way of life
and a state of being, rather than a celebrity-in-crisis,
Kabbalah-like fad. If anything, in the second half of Harrison's
career, the musician was saying a lot, the difference being
he didn't really care if anyone was listening or not.
George
Harrison - Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Eart)
