Review of Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007) by Jennifer J — 02 Oct 2007

I think the Director Julien Temple (The Filth and the Fury) may have been a wee bit jealous of Joe, or maybe he just hated him. There is some great footage here and a lot of commentary by various icons of arts and culture, but unfortunately Temple, in his wisdom, has opted NOT to credit any of these people on-screen.

I took my 16 yo son who had no hope of realising the import of Strummers interaction with luminaries such as William Burroughs and Alan Ginsbergh. Although HE was the one that identified Jim Jarmusch to me! Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols is looking a little worse for wear, and Glen Matlock is spotted in a crowd scene.

Why Julien? The kind of audience Strummer reached back in the day would be completely alienated. The man himself is presented almost hypocritically at odds with his own ethos. Temple gleefully uses footage of Strummer at his most hostile, almost a caricature of the 76 English punk: bagging 'hippies', at least twice using clips of The Clash doing "I'm so bored with the USA", yet focuses the film a lot on his connections with that country.

In fact half the time it seems he's wearing a Stetson and being lauded by his US mates. I've NO problem with this. I think Strummer's brilliance lay partially in his amazing lyrics and his confirmed interest in world issues.

He is credited with politicising his audience and of raising their awareness. The last half? of the movie is dedicated to Joe in the wilderness post-Clash and its only at the end that we are told of his revelation about campfires and their Druidic history as meeting places and creative gatherings, which was all a bit esoteric and kind of sad.

The movie is studded with commentary coming from Strummer contemporaries waving away smoke as they sat around said campfires. I was wondering wtf? And it really did come across as a bit contrived. However, it was worth watching for anyone interested in the era, the man, or the band.

Oh, and Bono's comment ran to him saying that in his opinion, the Clash should not have split. Given Bono's much feted charisma, he may yet manage to pull Joe from the grave.