Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

Great documentary about Strummer, frontman of The Clash and a very influential and uniting individual. I really knew nothing about The Clash aside from a handful of songs and a basic understanding of their politics. But I really enjoyed the broad sweep of history, the punk scene and the politics of the 70s and 80s that director Julian Temple uses to place Strummer firmly in his element and give him context.


We are treated to a detailed arc of Joe's life with great archival footage and lots of recent campfire-lit interviews with stars and musicians who knew him, worked with him or admired him (including very weird Johnny Depp with two beard ponytails footage!) (And while I am being parenthetical, what the fuck is Bono doing in every movie about a musician more influential than him?) And we get to really see how he came, in his later years, to accept himself and his past and to celebrate it. My favorite line, that actually sums up his philosophy quite well: "When you get down to it, we're all the same. Punks are just hippies with zips."