Rainbow Bridge dvd movie.|
Rainbow Bridge cheap dvd videos, dvd movies for sale |
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List Price: $24.98 Features • Color • DVD-Video • NTSC In Theaters : 1970 DVD Release : 01 December, 1998 |
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Rainbow Bridge description Hippy-dippy at its hippy-dippiest, Rainbow Bridge is a piece of counterculture slag that capitalizes on its footage of Jimi Hendrix (who died not long after filming). Actually, Hendrix only shows up at the very end of this long, bizarre film, bringing the same luster that Sean Connery did to the dreadful Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Pri ... review details |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | "Waving the Freak Flag High" |
| Apparently most people who acquired this film expected a glorious tribute to the mythical Jimi Hendrix. Their disappointment is understandable. Although Hendrix is present in many ways throughout the film (his music forms the main soundtrack, plus there's some nice footage of his famous "volcano-concert", and finally he is shown speaking to two other characters for a few minutes about... whatever), he is not at all the protagonist/hero nor even the main topic. To use the words of one of the characters in the film, Hendrix is just another "vehicle" to spread "the message".
That this slight confusion makes people so upset in the end is rather surprising. Especially because Rainbow Bridge is actually a very valuable and even entertaining document of its time, in particular the subculture that turned Hendrix into an idol to begin with. Perhaps instead of expecting another "movie", with clichA plots and superficial characters, viewers should be prepared to watch a kind of documentary (you can't even tell where facts stop and fiction begins, just like when you listen to the president) following a group of well-intentioned hippies who try to deal with the contradictory and very disappointing reality around them by taking refuge in an incongruous but protective reality of their own. Why not? The late 60s and 70s were, after all, an excellent time in Western history for a few young people to freak out by ridiculing and rejecting the so-called rational society around them, that was (just like today) mainly concerned with (over)producing commodities, waging wars and sending funny objects (sometimes with a few hominids in them) into outer space. All in order to fight poverty and ensure that everybody could be free and happy, of course. In opposition to such noble aims, the hippie commune portrayed in Rainbow Bridge makes a radical turn towards mysticism and occultism (with psychedelic drugs and music thrown into it). On the whole, this actually provides for some endearingly hilarious opinions about the world. Especially when the characters talk in all seriousness of the "Space Brothers" who have come to planet Earth to teach humans to use infinite resources of energy, thus freeing them from the dictatorship of big corporations that control electricity, food and oil production, medicine, etc. Or when they imagine what they might have done in their previous lives (as if one life weren't bad enough!). Plus, if you ever wondered what Jimi Hendrix's astrological sign was and what (if anything at all) that might mean, Rainbow Bridge may just provide you with some answers. And if you never wondered - well, it won't hurt you to know, either. Another complaint viewers have is about the lack of plot. Just like in real life, actually. Things happen, you are affected by them, you react to them, then something else happens, and it all goes on and on until you die. You'll be lucky if you understand anything in the process! To claim, though, that there is no order or idea behind Rainbow Bridge is totally exaggerated. Actually, the main character (Pat Hartley) moves from one situation/issue to another, in the end providing a general picture of the commune's attitudes, beliefs and even difficulties in finding out how to "do their thing". There is the impression that the world/government has gone crazy, the discomfort with the Vietnam conflict, the threat of a nuclear war, the effects of urbanization and industrial pollution on the environment, the question of how to spread their message to the rest of the world, the dilemmas of combining sex and drugs with meditation and prayer, and in the end their desire to be together "as one" in a spiritual way - culminating it the concert of Jimi Hendrix. So you see, however wacky some of the ideas in this film may be, at least you will be exposed to oodles of interesting and unusual information. Which is more than most "movies" can do for you! On top of that there's the great music, the impressive images of late industrial civilization vs nature, and even (if that's your thing) the chance to hear your idol Hendrix rambling under the effect of some drug. It truly is as close to the musical genius as you'll probably ever get. Whatever regrets he might have had about participating in Rainbow Bridge afterwards, a final misconception some viewers have concerns the idea that Hendrix does not belong in such an insultingly bizarre film. Actually, if you consider his music and lyrics, he couldn't have fit better into it. Listen: "'Cause I've got my own world to live through And I ain't gonna copy you. White collar conservative flashin' down the street Pointin' their plastic finger at me, ha ! They're hopin' soon my kind will drop and die but uh I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high !" Yes, Rainbow Bridge is, after all, a great EXPERIENCE in the Hendrix sense. What else could you want? Enjoy the trip - and may the "Space Brothers" save us all before it is too late! |
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