David and Albert Maysles Gimme Shelter
is absolutely stunning as a historical document. The film, which chronicles the
last few months of a 1969 Rolling Stones tour, has the good fortune of being at
the right place at the right time, since it manages to capture on film the
infamous stabbing at their Altamont concert. The image, which is replayed and
shown frame by frozen frame as if it is the Zapruder film, is startling.
Considering the incident’s political significance (it was seen as the final
nail in the coffin for the 60’s revolution), its existence is absolutely
invaluable. What is irksome and a little sleazy is a shot near the film’s very
end that shows one of the Maysles brothers as he shows the footage that he
captured to Mick Jagger. The expression on his face is filled with a smug sort
of satisfaction that suggests he is entirely proud to have captured the image
(which he should be), and there’s little suggestion that he’s thought much
about the “victim”, except in terms of how he can exploit his death. It’s
arguably a more disturbing image than the actual stabbing, and it certainly
casts the Maysles’ work into a different perspective. Is their Grey
Gardens, which takes us inside the homes of two psudeo-Kennedys, exploiting
the obviously mentally ill people that it shows? Does their Salesman
expect us to laugh at the concerns of its downtrodden subjects? What becomes
through the Maysles’ oeuvre is that the documentary filmmaker is just as much
a manipulator as the fictional one, since their editing process can literally
remove any dissenting viewpoints, troublesome ambiguity, or even any physical
trace of themselves.
The stabbing only takes place in the last fifteen minutes of the film, so it
might seem a bit histrionic to blow its significance out of proportion. The
problem is that the Maysles the concert at Altamont Speedway as a climax to the
film. The film’s first half has a carefree zest that stands in stark contrast
to the second half’s sense of impending doom. It all feels a little cheap,
frankly. It’s interesting that the film sets up the Rolling Stones as the
“good guys” too. They seem completely dedicated to their work, and are
probably the sanest people that ever show their face in this movie. Though the
film is eminently watchable, you leave the theater with a sense of sickness
instead of the sense of unbridled joy that the music of the Stones creates early
on. So while I absolutely recognize the historical significance of Gimme
Shelter, and would recommend it without hesitation, I can’t say I really
enjoyed it in light of its content. Frankly, I left it feeling used.
David and Albert Maysles Gimme Shelter
is absolutely stunning as a historical document. The film, which chronicles the
last few months of a 1969 Rolling Stones tour, has the good fortune of being at
the right place at the right time, since it manages to capture on film the
infamous stabbing at their Altamont concert. The image, which is replayed and
shown frame by frozen frame as if it is the Zapruder film, is startling.
Considering the incident’s political significance (it was seen as the final
nail in the coffin for the 60’s revolution), its existence is absolutely
invaluable. What is irksome and a little sleazy is a shot near the film’s very
end that shows one of the Maysles brothers as he shows the footage that he
captured to Mick Jagger. The expression on his face is filled with a smug sort
of satisfaction that suggests he is entirely proud to have captured the image
(which he should be), and there’s little suggestion that he’s thought much
about the “victim”, except in terms of how he can exploit his death. It’s
arguably a more disturbing image than the actual stabbing, and it certainly
casts the Maysles’ work into a different perspective. Is their Grey
Gardens, which takes us inside the homes of two psudeo-Kennedys, exploiting
the obviously mentally ill people that it shows? Does their Salesman
expect us to laugh at the concerns of its downtrodden subjects? What becomes
through the Maysles’ oeuvre is that the documentary filmmaker is just as much
a manipulator as the fictional one, since their editing process can literally
remove any dissenting viewpoints, troublesome ambiguity, or even any physical
trace of themselves. 
The stabbing only takes place in the last fifteen minutes of the film, so it
might seem a bit histrionic to blow its significance out of proportion. The
problem is that the Maysles the concert at Altamont Speedway as a climax to the
film. The film’s first half has a carefree zest that stands in stark contrast
to the second half’s sense of impending doom. It all feels a little cheap,
frankly. It’s interesting that the film sets up the Rolling Stones as the
“good guys” too. They seem completely dedicated to their work, and are
probably the sanest people that ever show their face in this movie. Though the
film is eminently watchable, you leave the theater with a sense of sickness
instead of the sense of unbridled joy that the music of the Stones creates early
on. So while I absolutely recognize the historical significance of Gimme
Shelter, and would recommend it without hesitation, I can’t say I really
enjoyed it in light of its content. Frankly, I left it feeling used.