The Beatles: Get Back

Perfect , masterful , and the best way to spend thanksgiving. Every Beatles fan should watch this ! It's so clear, it's liked they filmed it today . Masters are work and it feels like you're in the room with them.

A historical treasure, masterpiece, call it what you will. All I know is that this will be admired not for years, but for centuries. Watching these compositions being created is truly staggering.

What a treasure! If I could give this 20 stars I would. Some of my earliest memories are of the Beatles and I can still remember every word to every Beatle song even though other memories in my life have faded. This film is a gift to the world. A found item in the most magical of attics. To see the collaboration, the talent, the brotherhood in such intimate detail is truly wonderful. I loved every minute of it. Peter Jackson is also a gift and it must have been near impossible to decide what to leave in and what to exclude. Like LOTR he nails it, managing to honor the content without forcing himself of it. It will always be difficult to watch John knowing his unacceptable end but what a great tribute and memorial this is. And sweet George. While others screamed for Paul, I was always a George girl. If I could just go back in time and take the cigarette out of his hand I would. Alas it is the way of things. Thank you Peter Jackson for this most wonderful of gifts!!

The climactic third segment of Peter Jackson's re-edit on Michael Lindsay-Hogg's raw footage for the original "Let It Be" feature in 1970. In the intervening 51 years, many of the significant characters here are no longer with us, most obviously Lennon and Harrison, but also George Martin, Billy Preston and Linda McCartney (then Eastman) to name but a few. Me, I'm glad I've lived long enough as a lifelong Beatles fan to see this up-close-and-personal glimpse of them in the studio and of course, in the end, playing live for the last time, on the roof of the Apple Studios building on Savile Row, London.

If the first film of the three showed the group not coping with being expected to work in the cavernous Twickenham Film Studio set to the extent of becoming fractious with one another and not getting a whole lot done and the second their reconciliation and rediscovery of their collective mojo boosted by the drafted-in guest appearance of keyboardist Billy Preston, then this last instalment showed the race against time to complete their elpee's worth of songs (at which they fail) and agreement to an almost ad-hoc suggestion that they perform their new material live above the mostly agog office and shop-workers below (at which they succeed).

I do hope now that the often upbeat nature of these films and the way they showed the band tightening up, in more ways than one, will replace the perception of these sessions, as portrayed in the original film, as negative and downbeat. Yes, there were disagreements and falling-outs along the way, but when their backs were against the wall, the band always came out fighting, as McCartney states they invariably did when the occasion called. While in the first hour, perhaps the odd extended jam or two could have been cut down or out, these are more than made up for with priceless scenes with the group chemistry very much in evidence, witness George asking for help with his lyric for "Sonething", his own helping of Ringo to knock "Octopus's Garden" into shape or John and Paul hilariously co-singing "Two Of Us" as if they were ventriloquists.

Best of all though was the music itself. Marvel at their prolific output, setting themselves a 14-song target, this, remember just a few months after they'd unleashed 30 newbies on "The White Album". Also dig how they individually and collectively pull a song together, not stopping until they get it right. Initially trepidatious at witnessing a perceived up-close disintegration of my favourite band, instead I got an insight into the years of gigging and recording which helped them stay together for so long. Yes, at times, it's clear the ends were fraying as they grew apart and would come loose for good after one final magnificent hurrah with "Abbey Road", but this extended window into their world only deepened my love and admiration for this most special band.

The highpoint of "Get Back" of course was the uncut 40 minutes or so of the rooftop show, again with Billy Preston as their side-man on keyboards, blasting out their new music over the streets of London prompting the attention of the stuffy, out-of-touch local plod to shut them down. All the sometimes ramshackle rehearsals and run-throughs forgotten, on a cold but sunny winter morning, they sing and play magnificently together one last time in a truly Olympian performance, to the mortals below.

And in the end, borrowing a phrase from a lesser but still very popular band, all I can say is thank you for the music, boys, you were the best.

On May 13, 1970, in Redondo Beach, California, I stuffed a VW bus with my closest musician friends and drove to Hollywood to see the midnight premier showing of The Beatles: Let It Be. Like many musicians who were professionally involved in the swiftly emerging music industry in the 60s and 70s, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had helped to shape and define not only the rock and roll we performed, but also how we socially and culturally defined ourselves in the massive Counterculture Movement.

After screening the film, we drove back home in deafening silence. It was as if a global blackout had occurred, and when it was over, the music industry landscape had been transformed into a yawning, empty hole, one which would not begin to be filled in for another 51 years. It was true, there was little to say. We had just witnessed the depressing breakup of the world's greatest pop band, and the stunning finality of it all had been dutifully documented in Let It Be. To quote John Lennon: "The dream was over."

But thanks to director extraordinaire Peter Jackson, and the release of The Beatles: Get Back, the painful wound I thought would never heal was suddenly cleansed, dressed, stitched and repaired. The empty hole left by the original film began to fill in as the first few scenes of Get Back rolled across the television screen. Instead of mourning the demise of this iconic group, I found myself with a renewed sense of celebration, even relief, with the updated knowledge that the Beatles hadn't necessarily "gone down in flames" but rather, were subconsciously beginning the process of launching their solo careers, each of which would flourish for many years following their official breakup.

Most IMDb fans already know the full story behind Let It Be (1970) and The Beatles: Get Back (2021) so there is no need to duplicate descriptions and comparisons. In both films, it is still the music that efficiently carries the storyline as well as the strong creative processes the Beatles possessed when building new songs in the recording studio.

Peter Jackson's "retelling" allowed me to enjoy the film for what it was always meant to be: An upbeat and beautiful documentary best described by Greek philosopher Aristotle's timeless phrase, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

No spoilers here as usual but I will reveal that the process of selecting and restoring the material for the film took New Zealander Peter Jackson a grueling four years.