Anyone who really knows Bird's life understands it was, ultimately, a tragedy. I have read several books about Charlie Parker and listened to more than a dozen of his albums. The portrait Clint Eastwood creates matches exactly what I know of Bird's life. And the most wonderful thing is that, I believe, it conveys an appreciation of his music in a way that recordings, alone, cannot.
(Possible spoiler ahead.) Bird was not destroyed by the first glimmerings of rock and roll any more than he was destroyed by the popularity of country and western. Classical is another matter. The key symbolism to understanding the tragedy is that, with his discovery of classical music, Bird began to realize how much more there was to understand and experience in the world. But he had lived for the intensity of the moment, over-indulging in booze and drugs. With just a little more time he would have beaten these demons with his enormous will power. But he did not have the time.
There is a lesson there, based on a very real life that, until Eastwood's movie, had been virtually forgotten by most of the Black community and the world. See it! This is a great movie!
(Possible spoiler ahead.) Bird was not destroyed by the first glimmerings of rock and roll any more than he was destroyed by the popularity of country and western. Classical is another matter. The key symbolism to understanding the tragedy is that, with his discovery of classical music, Bird began to realize how much more there was to understand and experience in the world. But he had lived for the intensity of the moment, over-indulging in booze and drugs. With just a little more time he would have beaten these demons with his enormous will power. But he did not have the time.
There is a lesson there, based on a very real life that, until Eastwood's movie, had been virtually forgotten by most of the Black community and the world. See it! This is a great movie!