SAD, 2007, 96 min
Director: Bernard Shakey aka Neil Young
Screenplay: Neil Young, Mike Cerre
Cast: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Stephen Colbert, Josh Hisle
Selection: Planet Rock – music film
Within the Planet Rock music selection of Cinema City Festival a documentary called CSNY: Deja Vu is going to be shown. The movie is dedicated to the cult four that debuted on the music scene of the late sixties - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The movie revives the unrepeatable spirit of the period – pacifistic, antiwar atmosphere. With their songs such as “Ohio” and “Find the Cost of Freedom”, CSNY were in the frontlines of organized protests against the war in Vietnam. Despite the fact that they gained world popularity thanks to their melodious songs about love, the band has not given up its active political engagement ever since its beginnings.
This very movie was the main projection on the closing of Sundance Festival 2008, and it was shown within Berlinale Special selection of Berlinale Festival 2008.
CSNY: Déjà Vu shows the band on their famous Freedom of Speech 2006 tour. The music background of the visual events consists of the sounds of Neil Young’s controversial album called Living with War. The interesting moments of the movie atmosphere are especially enriched by the participation of journalist Mike Carre, by the noticed reaction of the audience to the music achievements of the bands, as well as by showing their dedication to the fans. Again, the band’s endurance in their political struggle was shown in a sense that the whole tour was a symbolic music protest against the war in Iraq. Furthermore, the movie investigates and documents circumstances and events during the period of the crucial political elections in 2006.
Neil Young, who appears as a director under name Bernard Shakey, is known by its series of movies such as Greendale (2003), Human Highway (1982), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), and Journey through the Past (1974).