Peter Jackson Helps The Beatles Get Back

I'm a lifelong fan of The Beatles. While I was too young to experience that first rush of Beatlemania (I was just seven years old when they broke up), I loved their music as soon as I heard it. Their albums were the first records I bought with my own money, and like many ardent fans, I enjoyed following their solo careers while reading the many books about the band, and snapping up any archival releases of their music. One of the most elusive titles in the Beatles pantheon is the 1970 film, Let It Be. The project grew out of Paul's desire to get the band back to their roots, and ease some of the tensions that had surfaced during recent projects, most notably during the sessions for The White Album. The original plan was for the band to give a live performance, featuring new songs, which ultimately could be broadcast as a TV special. Cameras would also follow the group as they worked on and recorded the songs for their new album.

Let It Be, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who had helmed several video clips for the band, including "Rain" and "Revolution") turned out to be a record of a band that was breaking apart. The film had some positive moments, including the now legendary rooftop concert that climaxed the movie, but Let It Be has historically been viewed by many as a documentary of the end of The Beatles, despite the fact that they rallied soon after working on the project to record their final album, the classic Abbey Road. Long unavailable on home video, except for bootlegs, the footage used for the film has been resurrected in a new form by director Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson, entitled Get Back. Jackson (an avid Beatles fan) was given unprecedented access to 60 hours of video and 150 hours of audio from the original sessions. He and his team spent close to four years working on the project, restoring the video and audio, and editing never before seen footage into a new documentary comprehensively covering the Let It Be sessions.

Get Back was originally planned to be a theatrical film, but the project ultimately became a three-part, eight-hour miniseries, which is now available for streaming on Disney+. The film is nothing short of astonishing. If you only know Let It Be from the muddy clips seen in other Beatles documentaries or  bootleg versions of the film, you'll be blown way by the incredible quality of the video and audio here. The other invaluable take-away you'll get from watching Get Back is that while there were tensions among the band members during this time, there are also moments in the film which illustrate the deep love the band still had for one another, and the remarkable creative chemistry the group shared. Just look at the scenes where Paul and John are work on the lyrics to "Get Back," bouncing off one another, and feeding off each other's energy. It's a startling contrast to moments like the often referenced tiff between Paul and George regarding the latter's guitar playing. Even that infamous scene (and George's temporary exit from the group) gains additional relevance and meaning in Get Back, which shows that The Beatles were still a band of brothers, despite their squabbling. 

The film also shows The Beatles clowning around and jamming on oldies like Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music," songs they'd played in their earliest days as a band at marathon shows in Hamburg, and at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. It's evident from the discussions seen in Get Back that the group (who had stopped touring in 1966) realized that while they had become wizards in the studio and pioneered new recording techniques on albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, they weren't sure if they could cut it as a live band anymore. It's clearly evident that in some form, they longed for a return to those simpler days, when it was just the four of them rocking out, and they weren't the world-renowned and instantly recognized band they had become. Several times during discussions about how they can pull of a live show, people in the band's circle, including Lindsay-Hogg and engineer Glyn Johns, remark that The Beatles "belong to the world now," something I think the group was a little uncomfortable with, since they really wanted to just jam and play together, like the old days. Just watch the sheer delight that shines on their faces a couple of songs into the rooftop concert sequence, as everything clicks into place.

Watching Get Back is a revelatory experience.With an almost eight-hour running time, it may be a bit much for the casual viewer, but true Beatles fans will really enjoy the film. The previously unseen performances (the group is shown working on early versions of songs like "Carry That Weight" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," (both of which would end up on Abbey Road) and the snippets of songs that would end up on solo albums by the band, including Paul's "Back Seat of My Car" and George's All Things Must Pass" are a lot of fun to watch, and even the tense moments between the group (while sometimes difficult to view) are given more context in the longer running time afforded in the documentary. What's undeniable from viewing the film is that these four men truly loved each other, and they were an absolutely terrific band, who made music that changed not just rock and roll, but the world. Get Back reminds us why we love The Beatles, and gives us a well-rounded portrait of the band not only as uber-talented musicians, but also as human beings. That is an invaluable accomplishment, and thanks to Peter Jackson and his crew, we have a new appreciation for, and a fresh perspective on, The Beatles and their enduring legacy. Here's a link to the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auta2lagtw4.