A walk into the past!

Roaring Thunder Revue (Netflix; 2019)
A Bob Dylan Story (Directed by Martin Scorsese)

In a way, it looks like a mockumentary. It captures a specific time during Bob Dylan's tour of Northern America. It was 1975 and Dylan did a hodgepodge musical tour with no preset number of performers. Artistes of the era joined in as they landed in various towns. A diehard Dylon fan may know these people by hard, but to me, only Joni Mitchell rings a bell.

This film puts forward the actual 16mm footage of this tour with present-day Dylan giving interviews. Over time, probably with the state of intoxication that the musicians were in, many of the information remains a blur. The real reason the title of the tour is one instance. One says it is an honour to a Native American chief, Rolling Thunder. Yet, one cites the weather at the start of the planning of the trip. Could it be that it was about the open secret North Vietnam carpet-bombing by the American Forces during the Vietnam War? After all, Dylan's songs were mostly carried social messages and injustices in society.


But wait. I got my bearings all crossed when the documentary started talking about American bicentenary celebrations and Nixon's resignation which happened in 1976 and 1974 respectively while the concert was in 1975! 


Even if one is not a Dylan fan or a neophyte, he would surely appreciate the Kabuki-esque painted Dylan and sometimes his ex-beau, Joan Baez, belting out meaningful songs with social messages. There were songs about Ruben Carter, the middleweight potential World Boxing Champion and his wrongful arrest for murder. Then there was a song (the Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol) about deadly assault of three black hotel workers by a drunk white male. The assailant went scot-free.

Sure, intoxicants were used left, right and centre. It is interesting how, in some people, these substances managed to open a new window to shows them things from another angle. It is a known fact that hallucinogens, naturally occurring or synthetically produced ones, open portals into a totally different realm that is rarely assessed by the conscious mind. Some individuals managed to harvest knowledge from here for the betterment of mankind while others just succumb to the persuasion of the Maya.

History of Mankind has thought us that every intoxicant is this world, if not treated with respect, will lead to destruction. Tobacco, even though the Native Americans had been using it during their entire early civilisation in the continent that was later called the Americas, they never had any problem with it. The smoking of pipe was a sacrosanct ritual with a specific purpose. When the European explorers brought it back home for leisure, it became a problem. The same scenario with the coca plant and the Aztecs. Workers were chewing coca doing backbreaking jobs without a fuss. When the pillaging Spaniards brought it home, and soon the physicians recommended it as the panacea for all ailments from morning sickness to migraine and alcohol addiction, it became a social problem. Alcohol which was unknown amongst the Native American became an issue when it was introduced there.

The take-home message is to treat everything with respect. No single substance is without side-effect. It is just that it is yet to be discovered. Sugar is sweet but try drinking concentrated syrup. You would not stomach it!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

And God's army marches on....

The message (1976)
I thought of giving a go at a movie on Prophet Mohammad. I was curious to see how they made a movie about the Prophet as the Moslems are known to be touchy about his depiction as no depiction can be as perfect as He is. Remember the Danish caricature of him and the ruckus and bloodshed that it created.
At the beginning of the film, the producers clarified that their story was authenticated and approved for screening by some high authority in Islam. In keeping with the sensitivities of Moslems, the Prophet is not acted by any actors and even his voice is not heard. His orders are repeated by people around him. His view is shown as if he is looking through the camera.
The movie predates a time when Mecca appears apparently prosperous with thriving business activities and multiple religious festivities but beneath the apparent prosperity, there are the unhappy lot - the slaves and the female population who are treated as second class citizen as female infanticide is so prevalent.
Then comes along an illiterate shepherd who claims to be a prophet, recites wise phrases and promises a religion where all men and women are equal, between and amongst them. He promises a just religion where slaves can stand shoulder in shoulder and embrace their masters in the name of brotherhood. Naturally, Mohammad's immediate relatives, the slaves who have no rights, the nomads who are looked down upon are overjoyed. The ruling clan, the well to do and the rich are not impressed.
Just like many major social transformations in the history of mankind, religion gained popularity amongst the downtrodden and the cast-down for promise of better life and equality. As expected, any change in social arrangement is paralleled with defence of status quo by man's primordial primitive defence mechanism - violence, gore and blood shed! The story of this film is all too familiar to readers of Malaysian post 1970 history textbooks. -Mohamad and his followers are persecuted, the hijra to Medina, the building of the first mosque, fights with the Mecca ruler, the 10year truce plan which crumbled after 2, the snowballing of number of believers, the march of Moslems back into Mecca, the conquer of Mecca, the destruction of idols donning the interior of Kaabah and meaningless violence all in the name of proclaiming that their God is superior than the other's.

The movie ends with various quotations and advice apparently from the Prophet which promotes universal good, peace and the care of environment and the unfortunate fellow human beings. Looks like also the good teachings of God have been hijacked and manipulated by man for their own selfish agenda.

A little bit of trivia...

The producer had big problems trying to get finances for the production. After hitting a dead end in Hollywood, this film was actually financed by the presently recently disposed despot, Muamar Gadaffi. It was filmed in Libya and Morocco but I am darn sure that they were scenes of Malaysian mosques and Malay Moslem congregation praying.

Just as I had thought before watching the movie that Anthony Quinn is to act as the Prophet, an extremist Moslem group took siege of a building in Washington prior to its premier screening under this assumption. It was only settled after lost of several lives.

Memorable quote:

"Yes, I am Prophet of God. Even I do not know what would become of me!"