Living near the Glastonbury Festival site gives me a rather different perspective from that of the visiting Festival fan. And this film offers both views - that of the "local" and that of the visitor to mid-Somerset.
Covering all 30 something years of the festival's life, Julien Temple's film distills many hundreds of hours of professional film, archive film and home movie into just over two hours and really makes you feel that you spent a whole weekend there. Just like the Festival, there are different experiences for different audiences and those who love the festival for rock music will have some considerable reward with lovely filming (and soundtrack) of the main stage acts. Others who spend their time in the more alternative areas of the festival are also rewarded with extraordinary performers. A few of the punters are great value too - look out for the young man who had been there far too long although he could just about remember that he arrived "last Sunday".
Most interesting for me was the piece of contemporary social history that the film delivers. The first years of love and peace, followed by the travellers' convoys, the gradual growth of the corporate influence and the era of the all-encompassing wall chart our own memories of the festival through more than three decades. Some of the earliest archive footage is wonderful with great characters drawn from Pilton, the village near Glastonbury that hosts the Festival. Television coverage from those years will show you how much life has changed - as indeed have the TV presenters themselves. And the journey that Michael Eavis has himself taken over this mighty era is nicely covered too.
The stars of the show are, for me, the family who have the unenvied responsibility of clearing the loos early each morning. Father and his two sons - not men to tamper with - note that it's not a bad job "early mornings and plenty of people to talk to" but the graphic footage of their work might make you think it's the worst job in Somerset!
Edited in a way that doesn't do the work for you - years mixed together, no names for interviewees or performers - means you have to keep focused but at the end of the film I was left with a clear and enjoyable image of the journey the festival and its people have taken.
Covering all 30 something years of the festival's life, Julien Temple's film distills many hundreds of hours of professional film, archive film and home movie into just over two hours and really makes you feel that you spent a whole weekend there. Just like the Festival, there are different experiences for different audiences and those who love the festival for rock music will have some considerable reward with lovely filming (and soundtrack) of the main stage acts. Others who spend their time in the more alternative areas of the festival are also rewarded with extraordinary performers. A few of the punters are great value too - look out for the young man who had been there far too long although he could just about remember that he arrived "last Sunday".
Most interesting for me was the piece of contemporary social history that the film delivers. The first years of love and peace, followed by the travellers' convoys, the gradual growth of the corporate influence and the era of the all-encompassing wall chart our own memories of the festival through more than three decades. Some of the earliest archive footage is wonderful with great characters drawn from Pilton, the village near Glastonbury that hosts the Festival. Television coverage from those years will show you how much life has changed - as indeed have the TV presenters themselves. And the journey that Michael Eavis has himself taken over this mighty era is nicely covered too.
The stars of the show are, for me, the family who have the unenvied responsibility of clearing the loos early each morning. Father and his two sons - not men to tamper with - note that it's not a bad job "early mornings and plenty of people to talk to" but the graphic footage of their work might make you think it's the worst job in Somerset!
Edited in a way that doesn't do the work for you - years mixed together, no names for interviewees or performers - means you have to keep focused but at the end of the film I was left with a clear and enjoyable image of the journey the festival and its people have taken.
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