"Experience the 3-part event." This is
The Beatles: Get Back. This documentary series directed by Peter Jackson. The series takes audiences back in time to the band’s January 1969 recording sessions, which became a pivotal moment in music history. The docuseries showcases The Beatles’ creative process as they attempt to write fourteen new songs in preparation for their first live concert in over two years. Faced with a nearly impossible deadline, the strong bonds of friendship shared by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are put to the test. The docuseries is compiled from nearly sixty hours of unseen footage shot over twenty-one days, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969, and from more than a hundred and fifty hours of unheard audio, most of which has been locked in a vault for over half a century. Jackson is the only person in fifty years to have been given access to this Beatles treasure trove, all of which has now been brilliantly restored. What emerges is an unbelievably intimate portrait of The Beatles, showing how, with their backs against the wall, they could still rely on their friendship, good humor, and creative genius. While plans derail and relationships are put to the test, some of the world’s most iconic songs are composed and performed. The docuseries features – for the first time in its entirety – The Beatles’ last live performance as a group, the unforgettable rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row, as well as other songs and classic compositions featured on the band’s final two albums,
Abbey Road and
Let It Be.
The series employed film restoration techniques developed for Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old. Sixty hours of film footage and over a hundred and fifty hours of audio stemming from the original Let It Be film project were made available to Jackson's team. In reference to the long-reported acrimony surrounding the original Get Back project, Jackson wrote in a press statement that he was "relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth ... Sure, there's moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with." Jackson spent close to four years editing the series. It was created with cooperation from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of John Lennon (Yoko Ono) and George Harrison (Olivia Harrison), as well as music supervisor Giles Martin (son of George Martin and a regular producer of Beatles projects since 2006). The series was intended to be released theatrically in 2020 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the release of Let It Be (1969) and its accompanying album. However, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced the release date to be pushed into 2021. The film was subsequently repurposed as a three-part mini-series and released on Disney+. Disney was persuaded by the filmmakers to allow for the inclusion of profanity, with viewer discretion warnings at the start of each episode.
This is an extraordinary experience which has rightly earned plaudits around the world. Jackson has used modern post-production techniques to bring alive The Beatles in all of their wonderful glory.
Simon says
The Beatles: Get Back receives:
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