Music fans know the impact and influence the 1969 Woodstock festival had – both musically and culturally. Most of us have no idea of the sheer scale and magnitude of the event, relying on old photographs, videos, and less than clear thinking eye witness accounts to recant tales of nearly mystic proportions.
The 2009 Ang Lee film “Taking Woodstock” is a humorous and factual drama with two distinct acts at play; based on the events leading up to the legendary festival, and concluding with the actual event itself.
We learn the true story of Elliot Tiber, whose innovative thinking brings the gang of hippies to the small town of White Lake, New York, at first as a means of simply saving the struggling hotel his parents own, but then progressing as a way of bringing the open mindedness and spiritually free California counterculture to the uptight and remote hamlet.
Demetri Martin is a stand up comic by trade, but does a great job as Elliot Tiber. He has a calm demeanor throughout in the complete face of the anguish proceeding on all around him. He’s torn as a creative free thinker who wants to be part of something bigger and his duty to help his aging parents and their failing business in small town USA.
Eugene Levy of “American Pie” fame plays farmer Max Yasgur who opens his vast spread of land as the central location of the concert. Max Yasgur is such an influential figure in the history of music that he was given a full page obituary in Rolling Stone magazine after his passing in 1973 – one of the few non-musicians to have received such an honor.
Additional roles are filled nicely by Jonathan Groff as the festival organizer Michael Lang, Liev Schrieber as a cross-dressing security worker, and Emile Hirsch as Billy, a Vietnam War veteran struggling with PTSD.
The movie itself opens quite slowly, but resist temptation to get distracted. As the legalities around obtaining the festival permits are presented, its setting up for the concluding half – the actual Woodstock festival itself – which is truly a memorable work of filmography.
While many similar stories may set focus on the historic bands, the music actually plays a background to the concert goers themselves. The scenes depicting the hundreds of thousands of music fans, gypsies, and hippies arriving and slowly travelling along a lone road is astonishing. I don’t think anyone could grasp the concept of just how large this event was – a three day festival that featured 32 acts and half a million people.
Due to the size of the crowds, most of those in attendance didn’t even see the show itself – but created a lifetime of memories and enjoyment by simply being part of the event. When Elliot himself ventured from his parent’s inn to watch the show, he never actually makes it, getting lost in the outrageous sea of people, befriending a hippie couple (Paul Dano and Kelli Garner) and simply taking in the sights of his surroundings.
“Taking Woodstock” is an entertaining blend of history, drama, and comedy. While light-hearted by nature, it never strays too far from equally serious undertones that depict the social unrest present in 1969. When its finished, you’ll be searing with jealousy that you weren’t at Woodstock when history happened.
by – Matt Christopher
