CSNY: Déjà Vu
- Posted: 25th Mar 2010
- Category: Reviews
CSNY: Déjà Vu documents Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 2006 ‘Freedom of Speech Tour’ that saw Neil Young rope his old band-mates into getting back together, and back on the road, in order to peddle his highly politicized ‘Living With War’ album from Canada to Atlanta. But this isn’t your average Rockumentary; there are no wild parties and the only drugs being dabbled in are of the prescription variety (the band having an average age of 62 at the time). Rather this film documents a campaign: a concerted effort to ram home Young’s fervent anti-war opinions, and a nostalgic attempt to rejuvenate and resurrect the creaky counterculture-style activism once associated with his now predominantly middle-aged audience.The film constantly references events and sentiments of the Vietnam era; visually achieved through the innovative intersection of archive footage of a handsome CSNY in their hippy heyday; classic 1970’s newsreels of war, veterans and student protests, and more contemporary material which reveals the band in a rather craggier and more bloated state. The interesting, if heavy-handed, parallels that these cuts draw between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ create an effective sense of continuity between the reaction of the band to events such as the Kent State massacre, and the impetus behind the tour we now see them embarking on so many decades later. Out of this shifting and often beguiling form, the central tenants of the film materialise: the war in Iraq is a tragic repetition of the mistakes of the past: history has taught the people nothing: this is a country stuck in a terrible déjà vu.
However Déjà vu is not only a fitting description of the American socio-political situation but also of the CSNY tour itself. The constant re-simulation of the archetypal styles and symbols of the late-1960’s American counterculture over the past few decades has resulted in a situation whereby the brand of protest music performed by CSNY, flanked on all sides by peace signs and hippy slogans, necessarily appears as implicit pastiche. Despite Young’s assertion that this is, “not an Oldies tour, but a significant and current event”, there is an ever-present and overriding nostalgia that makes it difficult to understand the music strictly in relation to its intended contemporary context.
Nonetheless, Young’s commitment, passion and exuberance are admirable and his explicit, bare-boned sincerity often touching. With a set-list made up of numbers such as ‘No More War’ and ‘Lets Impeach the President’ it doesn’t take a political scientist to work out his stance on the key issues, yet to his significant credit he doesn’t shy away from giving voice to those that oppose and ridicule him. Indeed many of the film’s most memorable moments occur when the band does stray out of its comfort zone; coming face-to-face with startling post-9/11 paranoia and hatred. As the campaign marches into the staunchly red state of Georgia there is a perceptible shift in mood. The violent weather and claustrophobic humidity that greet the band as they pull up to play the Atlanta show affectively pre-empts the stormy reaction of the majority Bush-ite crowd. For the first half of the show it’s all plain sailing, the crowd nostalgically enjoying the old classics and remaining fairly oblivious to the political overtones, however, as the unmistakable refrain of “Lets impeach the President for lyin’…” begins to ring out around the stadium the air quickly sours. The music becomes drowned by boo’s and jeers. Grown men and women storm the exits en-masse, shouting obscenities and waving their middle fingers at the camera. These reactions are perhaps a result of CSNY’s anachronistic and confusing ideology: each member professes a great respect for the military, a profound patriotism, while simultaneously being wholly pacifistic. Their fan-base resultantly seems to encompass the extremes of a partisan and polarised country; making for a number of entertaining, dramatic and thought-provoking confrontations.Although perhaps relatively ineffectual as either serious political argument or agit-prop - never truly managing to penetrate beneath the bold statements of the song titles to establish any form of reasoning or evidence - Young’s film succeeds in conveying a highly individual response to war and modern America, executed in the manner of a filmic collage. Thoroughly scattershot, CSNY: Déjà Vu flits between tour chronicle, political polemic and episodic human interest stories, never seeming quite sure of where it stands, where it’s going or what exactly it’s doing and yet an affective message manages to seep through. Young himself argues that music “shouldn’t be totally designed to be a political thing”, but is primarily concerned with the emotions, with the fundamentals and a similar approach is evident in his filmmaking. Adopting a non-specific and foundational approach he tackles issues of patriotism, militarism and political ideology with a refreshing, if naïve, simplicity. Just like the hippy ideals of decades ago, his is a universal rallying cry for peace and harmony…but maybe that’s just the problem, in the end it all seems a little too familiar…
Neil Young, 2008, 96 mins
CSNY Déjà Vu is released by Metrodome on DVD on Monday 29th September 2008.