Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

A documentary on the folk music iconoclast from last year. Taking place during her farewell tour during 2018, Baez is interviewed & provides archival photos & film about her rise from a little girl who liked to sing & managed to parlay that love into a career in the burgeoning folk music scene. Chronicling the rivalry she had w/her sister (who embarked in her own career as a singer even though dance was her calling) & also the men in her life which included Bob Dylan (who was at the beginning of his career) & a freedom fighter for change who was jailed for a spell, Baez manages to carve out a niche for herself by doing her own thing for many years singing her songs & even becoming a staple in the civil rights movement as she was at Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech in Washington DC in 1963 & even arrested herself for taking a stand. Always keeping an upbeat eye to her role in her own career (her one misstep, in her opinion, was her appearance at an Amnesty concert in the 1980's she participated in where we see her perform Tears for Fears' "Shout") where she still packs in the audiences who appreciated what she has always done.

Another reviewer discusses this under "TMI", and I'm not sure other reviewers understand the issue, unfortunately I know far too many who do. To put a topical spin on this, I'm going to mention the "Satanic Panic" referenced in the last "Stranger Things" series. The panic that Dungeons and Dragons was introducing children to witchcraft and Satanic ritual was only the start. There was another converging phenomenon, of therapists recovering memories of their patients' childhood under hypnosis. It would start with sexual abuse, but there were also several extreme cases where therapists continued hypnosis sessions until the patients started remembering being part of Satanic rituals as children, where other children were sacrificed in Black Masses. This became part of several lawsuits and unfortunately not all the parents were declared innocent right away. There was several years of recovering their reputations as well as having sentences overturned. However sad, there were also many cases that did not rise to such extremes. These were later categorized under "False Memory Syndrome". The therapists were very motivated to find reasons for patients adult dysfunctions in childhood, the patients eager to please therapists and have them solve all their psychological problems. The two motives converge and patients start vaguely remembering abuse, even without hypnotism these false memories can bubble up. And, of course, the patient is alienated from parents, and has to turn to their therapist, and the mental health system generally as kind of "substitute parents". The power rush for the therapist is intense, the patient turns to them for replacing the parent figures who have problably been with them their whole life. This is a serious problem, that continues to go on, in a country that has a generally substandard mental health care system, with many substandard therapists and inadequate therapist education. Does Joan have one of these therapists? Is she being misled about her parents? There's no way of knowing from this documentary, or probably any documentary. Is it a real problem that under-recognized? Absolutely. Tragically.

It's a self-reflective documentary on the life of Joan Baez set in the context of her "farewell" tour of 2018-2019.

Baez's tour, which included her son, Gabriel Harris, sets the frame for the documentary. The rest follows, more or less chronologically, her life from age 13 through the era of her greatest fame and political activism in the 1960s into the 1990s. The documentary uses home movies, insights from tapes of her therapy sessions in the 1990s, and news clips of some of her political activities.

She only names three relationships in the movie--an early relationship with a woman named Kimmie, Bob Dylan, and David Harris. But her greatest focus is on her family--her Mexican father, Albert; mother, Joan; older sister, Pauline; and younger sister, Mimi. She describes the roots of her pacifism in the family's Quakerism. She especially probes the psychological issues she and Mimi experienced.

"Joan Baez: I am a Noise" seems remarkably honest but somewhat incomplete. A couple of decades are missing from the documentary without explanation. And a lot of things are hinted at but left unresolved. Her need to perform to the end left me wondering. But I'll forgive a lot; those of us who protested in the 1960s were all somewhat in love with Joan Baez.

An honest and thought-provoking documentary about a woman with an incredible life. The tender honesty displayed throughout the film shows the difficulties of a young woman who became famous at too young an age and the later self-reflection and examination that helped her to begin healing.

We all should be so lucky to have our lives chronicled with such tenderness and wisdom and brilliance. This is an Oscar-worthy film and should definitely be nominated for best documentary. My husband and I are still talking about it all day today.

Her family issues. The fame that probably brought her stress and trauma. Her activism. Joan Baez is an icon and an inspiration.

Even at the age of 79, she has "promises to keep in miles to go before she sleeps."

Joan Baez I am a Noise was enthusiastically received at its North American Premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. The film appears to start out as a tour film of Baez last tour in 2018 at age 78. But it really becomes and incredibly honest and intimate behind-the-scenes examination of her life as well as her music. She shares intimate details of her relationship with Bob Dylan and her husband David Harris. But really the focus in more on her and her struggles with depression and anxiety - subjects that are often hidden from public view. There was clearly a lot of darkness behind her beautiful voice. Some of the parts of the film related to the dysfunction in her family are deeply disturbing. The film also journeys through the connections between her music and her political activism.

The showing was greatly enhanced by Baez's presence at the end of the premiere in which she was enthusiastically welcomed. Clearly, she is a transcendent figure whose music has influenced generations. The film is a powerful record of her life. I also hope that it will give those suffering from mental illness more space to speak about their struggles. Highly recommended for fans as well as those who don't know much about her.