Genre: Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest
Theater Release: Apr 29, 2007
DVD Release: Aug 05, 2008
Synopsis:The reflective documentary Pete Seeger: The Power of Song explores the legacy of revered American folk singer and activist Seeger - written and directed by filmmaker Jim Brown when Seeger was in his late '80s. In lieu of recounting the narrative of Seeger's life note-for-note, however, Brown uses that individual biography as a contextual lens, through which he recounts decades of American social history. To tell his story, the filmmaker interpolates original, exclusive interviews with such
Seeger contemporaries as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, archival footage of Seeger in concert, and extracts from Seeger's private home movies. In the process, Brown unveils the extent to which Seeger continually prompted societal change through his consciousness-raising music and offstage social efforts. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Critic Reviews
Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
irector Jim Brown tells the story well even if he refuses to address any of the singer's missteps (such as becoming infuriated when Dylan first plugged in at the Newport Folk Festival).
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Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
A stirring, revelatory film, which captures Seeger as the media-age Johnny Appleseed of folk.
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Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Fans like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan express unvarnished awe, but it's the well-told arc of Seeger's life that makes the strongest impression, as director Jim Brown takes us from the highs to the lows and back up again.
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A.O. Scott, New York Times
As the loving documentary, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, makes clear, Pete Seeger is still busy, still angry, still hopeful, still singing.
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Rafer Guzman, Newsday
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song could have been called Pete Seeger: The First Punk. As the film traces the singer's long life, it also, inevitably, tracks the evolution of American countercultures through much of the 20th century.
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Brian Miller, Village Voice
Shallow, very officially sanctioned, and overly compressed.
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Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Power of Song shows this icon of 20th-century music to be a man of passion and principle, and a true American. An important figure, an important film.
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Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
[Seeger] traversed decades, styles, even continents to bring the people's music to the people. This distinction is made with suitable and skillful great appreciation by director Jim Brown in Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.
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If you've never heard of Pete Seeger or if you've known him all your life, see this film. Walking out, you might just be ready to put the world together.
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