The extent of the feature length documentary entitled, Woodstock, directed by Michael Wadleigh, takes place in the summer of love 1969 in a farm at Bethel, New York. The film documents a three day concert celebration of pop culture and what it stood for: freedom, rights, power and peace. An outstanding 400,000 people, mostly youths and young adults, participated in this free concert event, hosting some of the biggest names in the music business: Jimi Hendrix, Sha Na Na’s, Jefferson Airplane, David Crosby, and many more. The amount of footage captured for this event is phenomenal, and through multi-split screen techniques through post-production, the film was not limited to only showing a portion of what took place during those three days of love and peace. Every aspect of this event was documented, from the moment the event was being planned out, constructed, set-up, to the massive amounts of people lining up to get in, to the numerous stage performances, to the parties that took place during the night, to the disastrous polluted after math. Every moment of this life changing remarkable event was captured on footage.
Unlike traditional documentaries, Woodstock had no narration. The audience, performers, promoters and the original crew who conducted this free concert spoke for themselves. The film was about the people, not just the music. It was about the cause, the moral message, the hope, the future, the change that was about to come and impact the world forever. This was the first and last free massive concert of its kind. Many have tried to duplicate this miraculous moment years after, but was unsuccessful. I believe this defining moment in history was beautiful and necessary to our rights that we have today.
What struck me most from this documentary were the massive amounts of people who turned out for this event. Not knowing what they were getting into, hundreds of thousands of people who believed in making a difference and standing up for what they believed in showed their support for this worthwhile cause. The after math however was a bit distasteful. The garbage left on the farm destroyed the land. And the stories of the raping, drugs and crime that took place during those three days disgust me. But nonetheless, the event was magical and I wish I could have been there to witness such a milestone moment. This documentary speaks truth and empowers our generation to continue the love and peace and to stand up for our rights and freedom.
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