CSNY/Déjà Vu

Once again, Neil Young, a Canadian, sums up the mood of the U.S. (post 9/11 and post 2003 Iraq invasion) perfectly. I felt uneasy watching this film. The footage of CSNY is wonderful---the elusive Crosby, the clumsy but still vital Stills, the optimist Nash, the rabble-rousing Young. The footage from Iraq is shocking. But the most troubling in the film is the Atlanta segment. After nearly eight years of an absolute failure of an administration, one which invaded a nation that never attacked us (how many 9/11 terrorists were from Iraq, again???), I find it shocking that so many people back this President and Vice President, No Questions Asked. Neil Young directs the film (under a pseudonym) and includes footage of Atlanta "fans", angered by the political direction of the concert, demonstrating their disdain towards CSNY in colorful ways (finger gestures and many four letter words). My question to them is WHY would they even see the concert in the first place? Did they ever bother to listen to the lyrics of "Ohio," "For What it's Worth" and "Carry On?" Young could have easily excised that footage out, but he includes it, which leads me to ask if Toby Keith made a documentary, and had opposing views were captured on film, would he include that in the final product? My guess is no—the right point-of-view is the "RIGHT" point-of-view, and no matter how many lies and cover ups are exposed in the Bush administration, these people will stick with them, like Hitler and Goebbels in the bunker. But I digress—this film, like "No End in Sight," "Why We Fight" and "The Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing" before it, is vital viewing for any real American patriot. Thomas Jefferson said that the first act of a true patriot is to question its leaders. And it's safe to say, Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers would be turning over in their graves if they saw how Bush and company have destroyed our country. Thank you Neil Young.

From out here in Australia on the periphery of the US empire, this musical outing showed US audiences "split" about the War in Iraq & Afghanistan. A re-run of Vietnam (been there done that) - Deja Vu indeed. Especially for my generation who opposed the war in Vietnam and now the war in Iraq and Afghanistan (and Palestine) in Burma and the Congo, in Sudan/Darfur and West Papua....all wars !

The musicians and the tour made some opening some space for dialogue to begin about ending the war bringing the troops home.

I wonder what others who have viewed the film now think with Barak Obama elected if the troops will come home, if like fellow Republican Nixon, Prez Bush will become a pariah for the rest of his life ?

Peace now and then. Viola Wilkins Melbourne Australia

Caught this at the Traverse City Film Festival and have to say I enjoyed it much more than I expected to. It's not just about the music, but this godforsaken war we are mired in and the footage of Iraq along with the interviews with various veterans who contacted Neil Young following the release of his album Living With War that inspired the tour is all very moving. Interspersed throughout is footage from the Vietnam Era that provides a potent illustration of how similar the current mess has become to that infamous quagmire. History really does repeat itself.

Comedically, I also enjoyed the audience interviews in Atlanta among the dozens that walked out because it was "too political." what in the hell did they expect on the Freedom of Speech Tour in an election year? Very funny stuff.

Can aging rockers renew their spirit and use their music to ignite America in a different war. From the song "Ohio" after Kent State, they travel across America with new music and a new war.

Mike Cerre, who chronicled Vietnam and was embedded in Iraq travels with the band to report what happens.

The title of this documentary is perfect as we have been here before and here we are again in the same mess as another president tries to show his manhood.

But, can change occur if enough people rally in support of bringing our boys home? It is doubtful, and you risk pissing a lot of people off.

Good documentary showing the feeling of people over this war and the music of CSNY.

This movie could almost be the movie accompaniment to Neil Young's then new album, the strongly anti-Iraq war "Living With War". To take his message out to the people, he corralled the musical support of his sometime band-mates Crosby Stills and Nash and the documentary-making support of veteran war reporter Mike Cierre. Although the majority of the documentary interviewees are in the CSNY anti-war camp, a fair representation is given to the pro-war supporters opposite point of view.

That in fact is one of the key things I got from the film, just how polarised the debate is Stateside, with almost no-one in the middle ground. When the two factions clash as at a gig in Southern Alabama, sparks fly as pro-war members of the audience, who have paid good money for their tickets, walk-out en-masse when Neil provocatively cranks out his new song "Let's Impeach The President" complete with sympathetic supporting big-screen video technology conveniently spelling out the controversial lyric.

The movie follows the group around the country, interviewing band members particularly about the group's history of speaking out against war and for peace down the years. With a set-list concentrating on their "message" songs (often, as in "Ohio", "Find The Cost Of Freedom" and "For What It's Worth"), the music segments are strong although there are probably too many "Living With War" tracks causing some overkill on the message.

The vox-pop interviews with Vietnam veterans, the wives and mothers of deceased combatants and recently-served Iraq and Afghanistan tour-of-duty soldiers are interesting and as I said earlier, kept reasonably balanced and fair. There's also a plug for Young's "Living With War" web-site, part of which highlights new music on the anti-war theme and through which he showcases a young American musician now writing and performing after serving a tour of duty in Iraq.

The four famous band members all very much show their ages, Stills apparently joining Crosby's walrus colony, while Nash and Young are slimmer but their faces are definitely marked by the lines of age. The once pristine harmonies are also more ragged but somehow that fits with the message they're putting across here. As artists I admire them for eschewing a "greatest hits nostalgia" package for this thought-provoking politically slanted show although in so doing they really become Young, Crosby Stills and Nash.

This movie, directed by Young, at times uneasily tries to marry the main anti-war message with the conventions of a rock concert movie, but it was always going to be an awkward fit and I commend Young and his fellow musicians for at least sticking their heads above the parapet like this.