Geek vs Life

The Beatles changed music as we know it. When that
quartet of mop headed musicians crossed the pond in in
the 60s a wave of awakening and plain hysteria took
the hearts and minds of many. Thus, the Beatles became
a pop culture sensation becoming ingrained in the
mythos of music as we know it.

Flash forward, 2007. Across the Universe, a
rock-opera in the vein of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall, opens and the soundtrack
hits the market. People rush out to pick up this
instant classic, not just a Beatles movie, but a well
done movie. The downside, what many growing up from
the era of the Beatles, and the generation after, have
taken for granted in the music becomes forgotten.

A customer at Borders was looking for the
soundtrack, hailing it as the next great thing and
stating that it was “revolutionary” and music that
hadn’t been done before. When the clerk told her that
it was the Beatles, the reply was an astonishing, “I
would have remembered a name that stupid.” This is
both a good and bad thing. The nuances of course will
be saved for a later date, but you’re still waiting
for a review.

Fortunately, as this shows, Across the Universe has
something for die-hard Beatles fans, casual fans, and
people who have never even heard of the Beatles. The
movie flows from absurdity to absurdity, stitching
together what feels like a quilt of insane music
videos into a cohesive story. The basic story, amongst
many, is that of a British youth named Jude who
immigrates to the states and the trials and
tribulations that take place during the tumultuous
time of the Vietnam War.

The cast is superbly chosen with choice performances
by Bono as Doctor Robert, and Eddie Izzard as Mister
Kite just to name a few. The songs themselves, while
redone, manage to keep as much essence of the originals
in their energy and performance. Also, the songs
chosen pull from a greater section of the Beatles
discography as opposed to what is most popular,
exposing the casual fan to even more of the music that
changed the world.