Posted by Helen on: 09.25.2007 /
We saw the movie Across The Universe on Saturday. I thought it was a very interesting artistic representation of the Vietnam era. If you haven’t seen trailers, virtually all the sound track is Beatles songs.
My favorite provocative image was young US soldiers in Vietnam carrying a huge statue of liberty on their shoulders and singing “It’s too heavy” (I forgot what song that was from). It was powerfully ironic that what was supposed to bring freedom turned into a burden too heavy to bear, that all fell on the shoulders of these young men, involuntarily drafted.
The drafting into the army scene was excellently done, I thought. And the ’strawberry fields’ scene, which juxtaposed war images with someone creating violent art (in red - with strawberries and red paint) because he was upset. And “let it be” sung to a backdrop of riots and funerals was very powerful.
It’s had mixed reviews. For me the best scenes in it made it well worth seeing. It made me think about what it must have been like to live in those times.
Comment by: kay
1I’ve been excited to see the movie since I saw the first trailer, mostly because I’m such a big Beatles fan. To tell the truth I wasn’t even sure what the movie was about until the advertisements came on TV.
Thanks for the review. I’ll probably wait for the DVD to come out, but then I’m that way with most movies. :)
Comment by: Helen
2I hope you like the movie when you see the whole thing, Kay!
Comment by: Linda Collins
3Across the Universe was so brilliant,creative, and poignant.
I lived that era, and grew up just outside of Washington D.C. so I was there for the anti war protest. So many memories of my youth marched across the screen. They captured those stormy decades with percise clarity.
Young students who I’ve dialogued with about the movie missed so much because they just didn’t live it. For instance, the names of all the characters are names used in Beatle tunes. Most people miss that.
While I loved the film that sent me into a reminisicent stupor, sadly, it glamorized the drugs and sex, that took so many of my friends back then.
I saw the show during the same week I saw Brain McLaren in Denver. A few days before that I connected with an old activist friend who I hadn’t spoken with since 1971.
It took a while to drink in all God was showing me that week. If you are under 55 see the film a Beatle lover who is over 55.
Linda Collins
Women’s pastor to urban poor
Denver Co
Comment by: Helen
4Linda, thanks for your comment. I can believe people who didn’t live through that era or who didn’t know the Beatles songs well would have missed what you saw in the movie.
We noticed about the peoples’ names being from the songs.