David Tedeschi
Beatles '64

I don't know if director Adam McKay is right to yawn with boredom at the release of the documentary film "Beatles '64," made by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese. According to McKay, it's the usual celebrations of the most famous musical group of the twentieth century. As if to say: what's new, what's undiscovered in the Beatles saga that started way back in October 1962 with the release of the single "Love Me Do"?

But, apart from the obvious consideration that staying in the dark about music history denies oneself the pleasure of knowing many great musicians and their achievements, it should be noted that even in this film available on Disney Plus, some marginal episodes of the said saga resurface and suggest some reflection.

Using much of what was shot with great skill and naturalness at the time by Albert and David Maysles (the same who would make the documentary "Gimme Shelter" in 1970 regarding the Rolling Stones' tour of the US in 1969 with the tragic ending at Altamont), David Tedeschi takes us back to the Beatles' first tour of the US in February 1964. Over two weeks, the English group, already successful in Great Britain and Europe, managed to uplift the depressed mood of the United States following the assassination of President Kennedy a few months earlier and to change the Western musical landscape. The participation of the English quartet in the Ed Sullivan Show television broadcast would be watched by 73 million viewers and mark the new phase of rock (much to the dismay of the king, Elvis Presley). It would thus become the worldwide phenomenon of Beatlemania.

If the above briefly recalled remain matters of study in twentieth-century music, "Beatles '64" also reveals some tasty but little-known (or completely new) tidbits. Meanwhile, the fame registered even in the US had some drawbacks. Imagine how the four Liverpool lads must have felt in response to certain stupid questions posed by journalists (just one example: to the question "Do you think you can sing?" John Lennon promptly replied "You have to pay us first"). Who knows, maybe to the journalists, these young British guys seemed like clueless aliens...

And what about the condition of the four, confined to luxurious hotel rooms in New York and unable to step outside to enter a bar for a drink, just to avoid hordes of fans (many of them girls hopelessly in love with their idols). Thankfully, with the help of the "Ronettes" group members, John, George, Paul, and Ringo managed to sneak out of the hotel to go to a diner in Harlem, avoiding recognition.

But the most significant episode, in my opinion, is related to what happened at the British Embassy in Washington. A party was held there in honor of the Beatles, and according to the unanimous testimony of the four musicians, the treatment ostentatiously shown to them by the embassy staff was disgustingly haughty. Apparently, according to these officials, being a Beatle was equivalent to being a Zulu dressed up, a reason for disdain. But for the Liverpool boys, it was instead a source of honor and satisfaction to play their music in front of the audience rather than languishing in the bureaucratic halls of a diplomatic mission. And for us who live in another era, it may seem incredible but it should be remembered that the manner of four young musicians dressed in eccentric clothes for the standards of the time, sporting lush and long hair, constituted an affront to that establishment.

Even if some interviews given by a few witnesses of those facts may not always be sharply focused on the theme, "Beatles '64" is an instructive journey through distant times and places (several geological eras have passed since then and both the Beatles and rock have evolved greatly). And watching it makes me reflect on what John Lennon said in 1966 about the Beatles' incredible popularity, such as to overshadow Christianity itself. A certainly bombastic statement, with many complaints from bigoted and racist Yankees, but it remains true that in recent decades, in Judeo-Christian Western societies, there has been a cooling in regards to official religion. Meanwhile, people continue to talk about the Beatles. Who knows if in 60 years it will still be like this and someone will remember a director named Adam McKay (with no offense to his film "Don't Look Up").