The Age of Aquarius

Woodstock 12/21/12, Best Documentary, 1970

Woodstock was a landmark event at a time when there were so many landmark events: Vietnam, the moon landing, assassinations of political and civic leaders and other events that made life exciting and chaotic. Woodstock was billed as three days of peace and music; the rain and 500,000 people were a bonus. The documentary shows the setup of the stage area as the concert promoters take over Max Yasgur’s farm, and interviews with people, some you may recognize and some you may not. It is a little funny watching this documentary forty years after the fact, with the benefit of hindsight and a historical framework. The editors and director used the split-screen effect, which let them put more on the screen, but I found it annoying sometimes; and the documentary showed much of the footage out of order, which really annoyed me (I’m kind of linear that way). But, once you get past that, it is really fun to see these events unfold and hear and see the music, including a very young Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and so many others. There were a lot of artists who were not included, not even in the very extended Director’s cut which was over 3 hours long, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead and more. The documentary gets aired every once in a while on PBS during pledge drives, and VH1 and MTV used to play it when they were piggybacking on all the nostalgia back in the 90’s. There was a documentary on Martin Luther King and one on Jack Johnson that were also nominated, and perhaps Woodstock won because it captured the spirit of the time, I’m not sure. It is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it, but probably not for the youngsters because there is a TON of drug references and usage, as well as a bit of the hippy free love experience. Sit back, watch and listen, and be glad that you are inside and warm and dry. Peace out.