Woodstock Film Festival: The First Day

Woodstock Film Festival: The First Day

My daring plan is to "blog" about each day of the film festival.  Last night I attended "Sneak Peaks" at the Bearsville Theatre -- the very first film of the 2007 festival.  Behind me, as I walked in, was Michael Lang, promoter of all three Woodstock Music Festivals.  He had suggested the movie we were about to see: "The Fiddle and the Drum," which records a performance of the Alberta Ballet, scored by the songs of Joni Mitchell.  Twenty five young, androgynous, multi-ethnic dancers performed ballet (or something close to ballet), as the songs played.  Almost all the music was from "Dog Eat Dog," an obscure record from the 1980s, which now seems prophetic -- the songs capture the unconscious Imperialism and gratuitous wars of today.

In the late 70s, I worked in a natural foods store in Gainesville, Florida, and we often listened to those later Joni Mitchell records: "The Hissing of Summer Lawns," "Hejira."  I grew tired of their tuneless, diaristic form.  But suddenly, Joni's music sounds impulsive and new.  Especially with happy, highly-trained dancers performing below them.  (The choreography was by Jean Grand-Maitre.)

The title song, written by Joni, begins the show:

And so once again

Oh, America my friend

And so once again

You are fighting us all

And when we ask you why

You raise your sticks and cry and we fall

Oh, my friend

How did you come

To trade the fiddle for the drum

By the end of the movie, I was weeping.

(Afterwards, I went to the big party, ate popcorn, and saw a bearded man kiss a woman's hand.)