People who become rebel heroes tend to be wankers: Che Guevera, Joe Strummer. I think a lack of sense of humour and bloated feeling of self-importance help you spread the gospel. Strummer is an all too familiar type - public school educated, spent time as a kid in exotic countries (dad was a diplomat), went to art school and became too cool for school, was in a punk band which he dropped at the request of a manager and joined the clash.
Strummer was a charismatic fella - he looks like a tough prick and was imposing, especially when he had a mohawk. His politics and beliefs seem to be mainly "stuff youse all" rather than a definite philosophy - even later on in life when he matured you still feel as though it was a lot of hot air being pumped out. So his company gets a bit wearying at times - there were more laughs with the Sex Pistols. The footage assembled is amazing - on stage, home movies all through his life, audio interviews. It's a bit annoying to have people around the campfire talk about Strummer who are not identified - it just would have been a bit easier to follow.
The actors who talk about Strummer are the ones you'd expect - the studious, smart, serious ones like John Cusack, Johnny Depp and Steve Buscemi (no Ethan Hawke though, surprisingly - maybe because he, unlike the others, hasn't yet made a film for Jerry Bruckheimer). And it goes on too long - the stuff about his 90s band isn't that interesting. But visually dynamic, with that Julien Temple thing of raiding other films for inspiration (If, Animal Farm, Cushing's 1984), and all the old aging rockers are good talent.
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