Martin Scorcese examines Bob Dylan's ascendancy as a young artist. The film's use of rare archival footage and extensive interviews with Dylan, Suze Rotolo, Bob Neuwirth and Joan Baez make this an extraordinary film for Dylan fans, who up to this point, had little access to Dylan's perspective and had to piece together what happened by reading various biographies. Scorcese makes interesting choices as a filmmaker, juxtaposing footage from different eras out of chronological order. Today's Dylan reflecting on his childhood in Minnesota is interspersed with footage from Eat The Document of his 1966 tour. His early influences are represented by archival performances and his journey to New York City is well-covered, as are the Newport Folk Festivals, going electric and his early British tours. Scorcese does a great job showing just how much pressure Dylan was under to be a spokesperson for a generation by including lengthy press conferences that document how absurd things got. To his credit, Dylan clearly states he didn't know the answers to all the questions that people expected him to have and didn't see that as part of his job as an artist. As people's expectations got higher, so did he. His drug use is not discussed, but archival footage shows him getting skinnier and more and more out of it the more famous he became. The movie takes us to July 1966, when Dylan's infamous motorcycle crash occurs, after which he would not tour for eight years. The film includes cool clips of other 20th century icons such as Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsburg, Johnny Cash and Andy Warhol. Essential viewing for anyone interested in understanding Bob Dylan as a cultural phenomenon, popular musician, poet and artist.
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