Days of Rage: the Rolling Stones' Road to Altamont

I particularly like Michael Lydon's narration of his first hand experience at Altamont.

There are many great things about this film in terms of capturing certain parts of the history of The Rolling Stones, as well as a decent bit of British and American pop culture throughout the 1960's. At the same time however it's also quite terrible, in that much of what is said here by some of the guest speakers is that of opinion and propaganda, rather than facts. The entire narration itself also follows what could be described as a somewhat manufacturing of ideas and events, drawing conclusions and sometimes parallels that in reality make little to no sense. Personally I do not agree at all with many of the ways certain things are portrayed here in the film, all the way from the politics, the Vietnam war, to the British and American culture of the time. Some things are highly overstated, other things entirely ignored, sometimes even cause and effect ideas are drawn to ridiculous conclusions. To me, there is perhaps only one great truth in this film, and that is that around the very late 1960's. The Rolling Stones began their true peak as a band. They had some great work before that as well, but by the late 60's they had really become a very special group of musical artists.

Overall I see this film in a different way than the narrative wants me to, that's for sure. What I find perhaps the most interesting about this film is that it somewhat shows much of the beginnings of how a true rock n' roll outsider band like The Rolling Stones, became worldwide musical icons. This because most of what we see here is their rise to legendary prominence in popular culture, whether most of the people talking in the film actually see it factually or not. Don't get me wrong, there are a few voices in the film who do make some great points and tell some interesting stories and share facts. However there are far too many nonsense ideas in the film for me to recommend this to the average viewer. If you're a die hard Stones fan however. Of course you should at least watch it once.

"I'm rather pleased to hear they have banned the song. The last time they banned one of our records in America, it sold a million. Of course it's subversive! It's stupid to think you can start a revolution with a record. I wish you could." - Mick Jagger

3.5/10.