Amazon.com: This documentary by Murray Lerner (From Mao to Mozart) was shot in 1970, but for many reasons was not shown to the public until 1995 in Great Britain. In an important way, it is the final chapter in an unofficial trilogy of concert films (along with Woodstock and Gimme Shelter) that together paint a picture of the highest and lowest points of Woodstock Nation politics: from mass goodwill to anarchy to outright stupidity. On the one hand, Message to Love is a rock & roll movie with several performances that are outright revelations (the Who's triumphant show, the Doors' "The End"), some that are awfully good (Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun"), and more than enough that are superfluous (Ten Days After, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Jethro Tull). On the other hand, Lerner's cameras are trained on the increasingly testy relationship between nomadic hippies who travel a long way to see the show but refuse to pay, and concert producers who resort to using guard dogs, cops, and aluminum walls to keep crashers at a distance. Just how bad does the mood become after several days of this? Check out the scene in which Joni Mitchell breaks down in tears after singing her ode to peace and love, "Woodstock," before this lot. In an era when we've become used to extraordinary security and high ticket prices at rock concerts, it's perhaps hard to grasp what the fuss was about at the Isle of Wight. But Lerner's amazing film helps a viewer get a sense of what was really at stake in that period before rock & roll was a corporate matter, and when kids naively thought it was theirs for the taking. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - The Magic and the Misery
Due to numerous issues, "Message To Love: The Isle of Wight Festival" didn't reach theaters until 1997. Not sure if it was worth the wait. The 1970 multi-day concert it covers was so gargantuan that it ... Read More
Rating: - greatest festival ever
This is documentation of the greatest festival of all time. It gives all sides of the festival. You will not be dissapointed when you buy this!
Rating: - This movie is heaven
I don't get the criticism of this movie. Firstly, it's damn cheap - so whatever you get is value. Secondly, I've never bothered to watch the actual movie all the way through - all I'm interested in is the ... Read More
Rating: - When the music's over
A poorly made documentary focusing on the problems surrounding the festival's producers. Every music clip in this film has been edited down, sometimes to no more than a few seconds, so the creators of the ... Read More
Rating: - The music is great but...
There's great vintage shots and sounds from Free, Tull, The Who, ELP and others but all the other documentary stuff, while interesting, I found distracting and boring.
- The Magic and the Misery
- greatest festival ever
- When the music's over
- The music is great but...