First Hit: This is a must see film. It is very powerful, honest, unafraid, and very well done.
This isn’t just a film about the “Freedom of Speech” concert tour; it is a film asking the question: Isn’t anyone else outraged at our government’s involvement in the Iraq War?
Neil Young had written and recorded an album called “Living With War”. He wrote and recorded it in a matter of days, not months.
The album came from his outrage at seeing an article about our great medical technology advancement on hospital planes, but what Young saw was hurt soldiers, and asking why are they hurt? In addition to this article, Neil got tired of watching the constant destruction showing up on the nightly news about our involvement in Iraq and wondering why we were involved in yet another war.
Mike Cerre a reporter, who has been embedded with troops in Vietnam and Iraq, became embedded in the tour to witnessed and report on all the ups and downs.
The film shows interviews of irate people who walk out of the concert because “the bloated hippie millionaires” don’t need to bring politics into their beautiful harmonies as well as interviews with people who were in support of the show.
Ironic that people who hated the show, loved the earlier protest songs (like For What It’s Worth, Ohio, and Military Madness) but didn’t like the current protest songs calling for the impeachment of Bush.
There are film clips throughout the decade of the four of them together and in their earlier respective groups (Byrds, Hollies, Buffalo Springfield) along with interviews from different periods of time. There is an interesting clip of Neil being interviewed by Stephen Colbert who says “why doesn’t someone else have this war (to protest)?”
Neil chimes up and says, I waited for the younger generation to be outraged and stand up, "in fact I waited until I was 60.” Neil also shows the intimate story of a mother who lost a son in Iraq and a story of Josh Hisle who has been to Iraq as a soldier and is featured on one of the songs he wrote there.
Bernard Shakey (Neil) directs and edits the film with a wonderful evenhandedness. He shows the warts, the jewels and everything in-between. He isn’t afraid to show the people who dislike the concert and the reviews that are less than flattering. He also shows the vulnerabilities of the group, their friendship, and the power of art in speaking of a particular truth. There are also wonderful segments about Veterans who are being affected by our government’s lack of effort to help.
Overall: This is a wonderful film with texture, a point to make, laughter, openness, music, joy, and sorrow. I recommend it to everyone, regardless of your point of view. As Neil states in a quote from an interview with Metrolife Music: “Are we forever going to be throwing fireballs at each other like we have for the past 2,000 years? It’s like we eat, we sleep, and we war.”