ARTS & EVENTS

DVD Review: 'Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten'

WHEN THE HOLD STEADY sing "Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer / I think he might have been our only decent teacher" on "Constructive Summer," it's yet another hosanna shouted on behalf of the former Clash leader, who's been all but deified as pure punk god.

But what Julien Temple shows in his documentary "Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten" is neither a saint nor a sinner; he's just a man who cared, sometimes too much, sometimes too little. But what's certain is Strummer's death in 2002, at age 50, was a shocking blow to the family, friends and fans of a man who had finally rekindled the passions that drove him in the first place.

20080708-strummer.jpgAt the center of Temple's film, newly out on DVD, are the campfire conversations of the punk legend's friends and admirers who talk about the boy born John Mellor and the icon who was Joe Strummer. Connecting with people around a campfire was one of Strummer's late life passions, and the flames represented the rebirth of an artistic legend who, for a long time, was depressed, angry and confused. After The Clash dissolved, Strummer all but wandered in the wildness between 1986 and 1999, unsure of how to proceed with music, with his career, with life. But once he formed his backing band The Mescaleros, he spent his final three years in a joyous creative whirl.

"The Future Is Unwritten" artfully and emotionally captures Strummer's uncompromising personality, his epic charisma, his moments of doubt and self-revelation. Temple's sensitive but unvarnished profile of his old friend also mixes rare footage and audio interviews from the Strummer family archives, plus the director's trademark animated segments, as well as amazing scenes from the early days of The Clash and Strummer's time in willful artistic isolation.

It's a great film that will make you want to raise a toast not to Saint Joe Strummer, but to the conflicted guy who left this world a better place because of his monumental music.

» For more clips from the film and to stream the soundtrack CD, click here.

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