DVD Releases September 30, 2008: CSNY / Deja Vu : New DVD Releases

CSNY / Deja Vu

Cast

Bo Alexander
Stephen Colbert
David Crosby
Eric Von Haessler
Josh Hisle
Graham Nash
Rick Rosas
Stephen Stills
Larry Wachs
Neil Young

Plot

The war in Iraq is the backdrop as the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young "Freedom of Speech Tour" crisscrosses North America. Echoes of Vietnam-era anti-war sentiment abound as the band connects with today's audiences

CSNY / Deja Vu
Directed by Bernard Shakey
Average customer review:

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #192 in DVD
Released on: 2008-09-30
Rating: R (Restricted)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Original language: English
Subtitled in: English, Spanish
Number of discs: 1
Running time: 96 minutes

Customer Reviews

They're Right: 'We Have All Been Here Before'
"CSNY / Déjà Vu" documents a politically charged reunion tour of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. While you may not have realized it by listening to classic rock radio, the band always had a political conscience. In particular, "Déjà Vu" (1970) featured 'Ohio,' a protest song about the Kent State shootings. Fast forward thirty-five years to the "Déjà Vu" film. The concept of déjà vu is used as a poetic device to make a connection between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. So on one hand, this is a film about a musical tour but it is also a highly critical piece about George W. Bush and his handling of the Iraq War. Exclusively political segments show band members participating in rallies to support the election of anti-war candidates. There are heartfelt profiles of military personnel and their families. At one point Neil Young jams with Josh Hisle, a military veteran turned anti-war rocker. Scenes from the Colbert Report add humor to an otherwise heavy film. Musically, the 2006 Freedom of Speech tour featured a combination of material off the original "Déjà Vu" album and Neil Young's "Living with War" (2006). Old favorites like 'For What It's Worth' and 'Déjà Vu' find new significance along side newer songs like 'Let's Impeach the President' and 'Living with War.' The soundtrack is a good accompaniment that features songs played in their entirety. Combining music and politics into a movie about the Iraq War, "Déjà Vu" works well with similarly minded films such as "I Know I'm Not Alone" and "Heavy Metal in Baghdad." Combining great music with leftist politics, "CSNY / Déjà Vu" is an entertaining, thought proving and powerful film.

Old songs for a new war
This is a timely rockumentary from Bernard Shakey (Greendale). Bernard who? Okay, you probably know him better as the iconoclastic folk-rock-alt-country-"Godfather of Grunge"-cum-antiwar activist-filmmaker (did I leave anything out?)...Neil Young.

Mixing backstage footage and musical highlights from the 2006 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Freedom of Speech Tour with vox populi interviews and analysis by "embedded" journalist Mike Cerre (a veteran front lines Afghanistan/Iraq war correspondent) the doc plays somewhere between The Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing and Fahrenheit 9-11.

The 2006 reunion of the notoriously mercurial foursome was spearheaded by Young not so much as a nostalgia tour but rather as a musical wake-up call addressing the Bush administration's post 9-11 shenanigans, at home and in Iraq. The tour commenced on the heels of Young's incendiary Living with War album (definitely not on Junior's iPod).

The reaction from audiences (and music critics) was mixed. Young cheekily employs voiceover actors to read excerpts from concert reviews in the local rags, and particularly seems to take perverse delight in highlighting the sneers and snarks (usually involving ageist references to the band's senior citizen status). I will give him credit for including some (brief) "warts and all" excerpts from some early shows in the tour, like one instance where the quartet's rusty pipes are definitely a couple bubbles off plumb. And speaking of falling flat, we also witness a senior moment as a band member takes an onstage tumble.

The most eye-opening moment in the film occurs when the band plays Atlanta, a city usually perceived as a blue oasis in a red state. At first, all appears to be going swimmingly, with the audience happily clapping and singing along with the old "hits". But things get interesting as the band launches into some more recent material from Young's aforementioned Living with War album (accompanied by a faux-Karaoke lyric scroll on the huge onstage projection screen, just in case anyone misses the point):

Let's impeach the President for lying
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

Suddenly, the temperature in the auditorium seems to drop about 50 degrees; catcalls and hisses quickly escalate to boos, bird flipping and near-rioting. Cerre interviews some of the disenchanted as they stalk out; the outrage ranges from bitching about the ticket prices to threatening grievous bodily harm to Neil Young, should they get close enough. Backstage, the band takes the philosophical high road (with age comes wisdom, nu?)

But all cracks about geriatric rockers aside, it becomes apparent that the one thing that remains ageless is the power of the music, and the commitment from the performers. Songs like "Ohio", "Military Madness", "For What it's Worth" and "Chicago" prove to have resilience and retain a topical relevance that does not go unnoticed by younger fans. And anyone who doesn't tear up listening to the band deliver the solemnly beautiful harmonies of their elegiac live show closer, "Find the Cost of Freedom", while a photo gallery featuring hundreds of smiling young Americans who died in Iraq scrolls on the big screen behind them, can't possibly have anything resembling a soul residing within.

C,S,N & Y rail against military madness one more time, thank God.
This is a documentary film,not a concert or musical. There are parts of songs but no full song is shown apart from the "Find The Cost of Freedom" video and the "Living with War" videos that are "extras".

A powerfull and thought provoking document, this film is set against the Iraq War and shows both sides of the political argument, whilst enforcing the band's belief that the war should end now. Filmed during CSN & Y's "Freedom of Speech" tour the film shows reactions from the audience both for and against the band's songs. From veterans themselves and, something I found truly heartrending, from the families of those killed in war. It also shows members of the community, media and politicians campaigning.

The film is an honest account of the tour, even showing a fall by Steve Stills on stage and the rough edges still evident during the early part of the tour.It shows some audience members booing and walking out of concerts. However, one must ask what these people were doing at a CSN&Y concert in the first place given their long history and repetoir of anti war material together with Young's well publicised Living With War album.

There are three moments from the film that are still imbeded in my mind. The first, a veteran who has lost both her legs in battle now fighting in the political arena. The second, a mother who has lost a son in Iraq. Seeing her son's photo with thousands of others, on the screen behind the stage, she reflects that this has been the first time she has seen any public recognition of her sons sacrifice. Finally an audience member advises us that the Government is smarter than us so we should not question it!! Now that is scary.