Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Blu-ray Movie Review

A mesmerizing documentary earns another excellent Blu-ray release...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown July 22, 2014

Every generation has a defining moment; a cultural singularity that alters the course of everything that has come before and influences everything that comes after. For nearly half a million young men and women struggling to find their place and purpose in Vietnam-era America, that moment came during a three-day music festival in a little New York farm town called Bethel. The festival's name? Woodstock. Its financiers were unprepared for the overwhelming response, its grounds incapable of sustaining so many attendees... food was scarce, the water contaminated, and the weather unforgiving. In spite of it all, though, the rising, resounding hippie mantra of the day seeped into every gathering and performance. Peace and love dominated the proceedings, music drew everyone together, and rock-n-roll, once considered a source of social discord and rebellion, began to take on a whole new significance.

Developed and directed by Michael Wadleigh, edited by assistant directors Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese (then a twenty-six-year old fledgling still four years away from Mean Streets), and filmed on location from August 15 to August 18, 1969, Woodstock represents documentary filmmaking at its most intimate and naturalistic. It may have been completely misunderstood by studio executives of the era, but it went on to earn a variety of nominations and awards (most notably an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature), receive official recognition from the National Film Registry, and build a loyal following of fans young and old. Over the three-day course of the monumental, now-historically important event, Wadleigh's cameras wander and drift across the Sullivan County grounds, focusing on the hundreds of thousands attending the festival as intently as the legendary performance artists occupying the main stage. More intriguingly, each passing face in the crowd promises to tell a story we're never given the opportunity to hear. Wadleigh's film is about the experience, not the individual; his is a production of spirit and fervor, not of biographies or destinations. He treats Woodstock as if it were an enormous, pulsating beast swarming with parasites intent on taking their fill. His dissection of hippie subculture comes through candid footage, voyeuristic establishing shots and lingering close-ups rather than psychological or sociological analysis.

But it's Wadleigh's editors, having tirelessly sifted through more than 365,000 feet of film, who bring his vision to startling life. The screen splits into two, sometimes three panels at a time, offering juxtaposed imagery and observational photography, often to the seeming delight of his subjects. Music aficionados, drug addicts and nudists alike freely flaunt their wares to a cold and nonjudgmental camera, singers and guitarists are bathed in a deluge of light and sound, and friends and lovers lose themselves in a throng of strangers. Both a staggering disconnect and an unbreakable bond develops between each and every person that appears on screen. Therein lies the power of Wadleigh's Woodstock. As a documentary, it captures the atmosphere of the festival without resorting to sentimental or rhetoric. As a piece of art, it evokes the very emotions and impulses its subjects experience. As a film, it offers a sea of colorful characters amidst crisis and catharsis, each one victim to the same delusion: that the rest of the world has stopped, ever so briefly, to share in this respite from the harsh realities of life; blissfully ignorant of the things they renounce, and guilty of the naivety they reject.

And the stage performances? Absolutely electrifying. Each band gives their all, embracing the swaying Bethel audience as if it were their last. The drugs freely circulating the concert play a crucial role in the fervor, but the singers and musicians seem as enraptured by the event as their audience. There's a raw, unfettered undercurrent to the performances as tangible today as ever. Even as a relative pup (born too late for Woodstock, but just in time for Star Wars), digging through Wadleigh's documentary answered every question I've had as to why so many people were drawn to Bethel... why so many considered the festival their generation's defining moment. I doubt I'd have had the stomach for such an event -- watching young idealists and cynics indulge everything from heroine to treeline trysts is disturbing at times, disquieting at others -- it's easy to see how so many people, frustrated with a war in Vietnam and haunted by cultural disconnect, would find three days on a muddy hillside with more than four-hundred thousand people so fulfilling. Perhaps that's what makes Woodstock such a special film: it doesn't merely document the festival, it transports viewers into the experience and allows them to examine it up close and from afar.

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music was filmed in 1969, produced with limited means, completed despite dwindling supplies, and shot with Éclair NPR cameras (chosen not for their quality, but for their ease of use and versatility). Colors bleed and warp, details sharpen and soften without warning, grain spikes and lulls as it pleases... the entire picture seems to succumb to the madness of the festival. Yet Warner's 1080p/VC-1 video transfer -- recycled from the 2009 Blu-ray release -- faithfully captures every fuzzy edge, fleck of grain, errant scratch, and out-of-focus detail that graced the miles of film captured during the duration of the festival. Remastered just over five years ago from the documentary's original elements, scanned at 2K and presented at 2.41:1, the multi-paned image is quite good. Not only does the rough-n-rowdy presentation enhance the verve and vitality of the concert, it encapsulates the unadulterated free-for-all of the audience's response and reaction. Aside from the appearance of some unnecessary, albeit minor edge enhancement and a bit of faint artifacting that occasionally invades the foreground when multi-colored stage lights douse the musicians, I can't imagine the film looking much better than it does here. (Although adding an option to view the film with a shifting, dynamic aspect ratio presentation would have been more ideal, since a good portion of the documentary appears window-boxed when viewed in its native aspect ratio on a 1.78:1 display.)

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, the majority of issues that affect Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music should be attributed to the film's source rather than Warner's strong and steady Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track. Storm clouds are bolstered by strong LFE support, rainfall showcases the more immersive properties of the soundfield, and the roar of the crowd expands rather organically into the rear speakers. The sound quality of each performance is a bit uneven (background noise, air hiss, and other unavoidable anomalies impact clarity and intelligibility), but the various songs still sound fantastic; the rapid twang of Crosby, Stills & Nash's guitars are crisp and convincing, the abandon of The Who is backed by startling dynamics and stable treble pitches, and the iconic wheen of Hendrix's solos cut through the hum of the audience. Some of the more glaring problems will prove distracting -- this is, after all, a late '60s documentary burdened by budget constraints and equipment limitations -- but true audiophiles will revel in the authenticity. I never quite felt as if I were sitting amongst the festivalgoers, but it wasn't terribly far off. Arm yourself with reasonable expectations, sit back and enjoy.

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

In addition to the 224-minute Director's Cut of the film, the 3-disc Blu-ray release of Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music comes packaged with several collectibles as well as two additional Blu-ray discs loaded with special features, now presented in HD. Collectibles include an iron-on patch, three single-day ticket reproductions, a LIFE magazine excerpt reproduction (August 29, 1969), and reproductions of 1969 newspaper clippings. The items are housed in a small paper box that slides into an outer slipbox alongside a standard Blu-ray case. As to the set's supplemental package, the only special features that have gone MIA are a trio of BD-Live extras -- "My WB Commentary," "Live Community Screening" and "Media Center" -- none of which are actually missed.

• Woodstock: From Festival to Feature (Disc 2, HD, 77 minutes): This extensive series of featurettes and mini-docs (previously available only in SD) explore the festival, the documentary, the Éclair NPR camera, the shooting techniques used, the studio's interaction with the filmmakers, challenges the filmmakers faced and a variety of other topics. Segments include:
  
  
  • The Camera
  • 365,000 Feet of Film
  • Shooting Stage
  • The Lineup
  • Holding the Negative Hostage
  • Announcements
  • Suits vs. Longhairs
  • Documenting History
  • Woodstock: The Journey
  • Pre-Production
  • Production
  • Synchronization
  • The Crowd
  • No Rain! No Rain!
  • 3 Days in a Truck
  • The Woodstock Effect
  • Living Up to Idealism
  • World's Longest Optical
  • Critical Acclaim
  • The Hog Farm Commune
  • Hugh Hefner and Michael Wadleigh
  
  
• Untold Stories (Disc 2, HD, 143 minutes): A must-see collection of eighteen bonus performances -- now in high definition! -- worth the price of admission alone. Users can also create a custom playlist. Songs include:
  
  
  • Joan Baez: "One Day at a Time" (4:17)
  • Country Joe McDonald: "Flying High" (2:21)
  • Santana: "Evil Ways" (3:56)
  • Canned Heat: "I'm Her Man" (5.33)
  • Canned Heat: "On the Road Again" (10.49)
  • Mountain: "Beside the Sea" (3:38)
  • Mountain: "Southbound Train" (6:17)
  • The Grateful Dead: "Turn on Your Love Life" (37:44)
  • The Who: "We're Not Going to Take It" (9:07)
  • The Who: "My Generation" (7:36)
  • Jefferson Airplane: "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds" (5:40)
  • Joe Cocker: "Something's Coming On" (4:14)
  • Johnny Winter: "Mean Town Blues" (10:52)
  • Paul Butterfield: "Morning Sunrise" (8:26)
  • Sha Na Na: "Teen Angel" (3:21)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: "Born on the Bayou" (5:12)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: "I've Put a Spell On You" (4:10)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival: "Keep on Chooglin" (9:25)
  
  
• Festival Opening and Closing (Disc 2, HD, 5 minutes): A series of wisely trimmed scenes and shots that didn't make it into the Director's Cut of the film.
• The Museum at Bethel Woods: The Story of the Sixties & Woodstock (Disc 2, HD/SD, 5 minutes): Living Colour founder Vernon Reid hosts this brief tour of the Woodstock Museum at Bethel Woods. Unfortunately, it's little more than a promo.
• Woodstock: From Festival to Feature Revisited (Disc 3, HD, 32 minutes): The set's third disc kicks off with eight additional behind-the-scenes, festival legacy, documentary restoration and historical featurettes. Segments include:
  
  
  • Restoration
  • Technical Difficulties
  • Woodstock: A Turning Point
  • Food, Lodging & First Aid
  • Reflections of an Era
  • Woodstock: A Farm in Bethel
  • A Cinematic Revolution
  • The Woodstock Generation
  
  
• Untold Stories Revisited (Disc 3, HD, 73 minutes): Sixteen additional bonus performances are available on the set's third disc, albeit without a Custom Playlist option like the one featured on Disc Two. Songs include:
  
  
  • Melanie: "Mr. Tambourine Man/Tuning My Guitar" (6:18)
  • Joan Baez: "Oh Happy Day" (3:59)
  • Joan Baez: "I Shall Be Released" (3:38)
  • Santana: "Persuasion" (2:55)
  • Canned Heat: "Woodstock Boogie" (8:38)
  • The Grateful Dead: "Mama Tried" (2:53)
  • The Who: "Sparks" (5:25)
  • The Who: "Pinball Wizard" (2:51)
  • Jefferson Airplane: "Volunteers" (2:53)
  • Jefferson Airplane: "Come Back Bay" (5:56)
  • Country Joe and the Fish: "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" (4:23)
  • Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Helplessly Helping" (2:27)
  • Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Marrakesh Express" (2:55)
  • The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" (8:53)
  • Sha Na Na: "Book of Love" (2:07)
  • Jimi Hendrix: "Spanish Castle Magic" (7:09)
  
  
• The Museum at Bethel Woods (Disc 3, HD, 3 minutes): Another, more recent visit to the Woodstock Museum.

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music offers a remarkable glimpse into a defining moment in American culture, a stirring exploration of a generation-changing event, live footage of some of rock-n-roll's most influential icons, a four-hour director's cut of the film itself, a faithful video transfer and an engrossing TrueHD 5.1 lossless mix. Then there are the special features, which are not only more abundant than ever before, but presented in HD. 34 bonus performances, 29 behind-the-scenes featurettes, additional extras and deleted scenes, bonus collectibles... what more could you ask for? If you haven't already added Woodstock to your Blu-ray collection, now's the time.