We went last night to see the new biopic about the legendary Bob Dylan. The film is very interesting and worth watching. At one point we see Dylan in a church leafing through a Bible but this is not about the period when he professed faith and scandalised everyone with his evangelical fervour but about those early days from his arrival in New York as a complete unknown to his famous appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 when, horrors, he played an electric set to the bewildered audience. It is in this wonderful closing scene that we get into the area of poetic licence. We have someone in the film calling Dylan a Judas but that I'm sure didn't happen until a year or so later in Manchester. We also have Johnny Cash backstage urging Dylan back on for a final acoustic number. Cash was in Newport in 1964 but not 1965. How can film makers justify playing fast and loose with the truth? The broader truth is that Dylan was considered a Judas and Johnny Cash was a great encourager of the new electric phase. In a brief and passing media like film sometimes such things need to be done. It also provides nerds with something to talk about. Bob Dylan is an enigmatic character and this film does nothing to dispel that enigma but it does give you some material to work with.
2 comments:
I have wasted loads of time and money on Bob. Best album his first. After that living on past glory. He said all he had to say first album. Indy opinion of course.
Interesting viewpoint. I haven't spent much on him but he wormed his way into my consciousness early on (I knew abot blowin; inthe wind before I knew there was a Bob Dylan). As I say, I find him an enigma.
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