‘The Beatles: Get Back’ Provides a Captivating Candid Look at the Creative Process
My mom is a huge fan of The Beatles. Growing up, I knew their songs before I’d learned my ABCs. Their music is some of the most impactful ever recorded and it would be hard to argue that they didn’t influence the entire world. For many of us who were raised after the height of Beatlemania, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were practically mythical figures. In Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back, it’s fascinating to see the four lads from Liverpool as regular people and to watch their creative process as they write, record, and perform songs from Let It Be.
Compiled from over 60 hours of footage and 150 hours of audio recordings from Let It Be documentarian Michael Lindsay-Hogg, painstakingly restored to look crisp and clear without losing that vintage feel, this intimate peek at the band is captivating from the very first frame. Jackson gives us a quick montage to go over the history we already know: the Fab Four were bigger than Jesus. Their meteoric rise was unlike anything ever seen before, save for maybe Elvis Presley, and it seemed like the bubble would never burst, but now it’s 1969 and they’re in a bit of a transition period, moving from the iconic band toward solo careers. Throughout the doc, you can feel the tension in the air, like they all know this is the end of an era, but they’re afraid to face the uncertainty of what comes next.
McCartney wants to dive into the work, rehearsing and writing and toiling for perfection even when it’s clear he’s burning the others out. Harrison wants to explore new sound and even collaborate with new people, and it’s clear that a lot of his frustrations lie in feeling stifled and unheard, not entirely surprising since he was always billed as “the quiet Beatle”. Lennon seems torn between a desire to create something highly artistic and the comfort of nostalgia, often joking around with McCartney and singing songs they wrote as teenagers when they fall into a creative rut. Starr has a hard deadline because he’s going to start work on a new Peter Sellers film, so the clock is ticking and the window to create together is closing.
It’s hard to explain why watching hours of footage of four dudes sitting around talking and sometimes playing music is so incredibly engaging, but these aren’t just any old dudes and this isn’t just any old music. These songs are legendary and it’s just so damn fascinating to watch the band start to pull the familiar melodies out of the creative ether. Despite their immense talent, these songs don’t just happen and it’s quite inspiring to watch them work at it, to brainstorm lyrics, to try out new things that don’t end up making the final cut, to painstakingly chisel away at the slab of raw marble until they have a beautiful sculpture.
Even more interesting is that they’re doing all this under a palpable cloud of tension and negativity. It’s clear that these guys have a lot of love for each other, but the vibe is off between them, especially early on. They establish that it’s been a while since they really played together, recording most of their work separately and compiling it in the studio rather than sitting down together to create and record. The distance has made them grow into very different people than they were when they first started, and with the death of Brian Epstein, there’s a shift in the power dynamic that makes for a bumpy start.
Early on, McCartney steps into more of a leadership role and his perfectionism and persistence don’t always sit well with the rest of the group. At another moment when things seem bogged down, they’re joined by Billy Preston, who completely brightens the mood like he’s Dani Rojas cutting the tension between Roy Kent and Jamie Tartt. Preston’s breath of fresh air seems to reinvigorate McCartney and especially Lennon—who all but proclaims Preston a member of the group on the spot. It’s intriguing to watch the shift in their creative energy from the moment Preston plays his first notes.
Despite the tension, the love between the members of the band is there. You can see that they’re family and in the moments where the clouds part, that closeness is clear. Lennon and McCartney often joke around, doing silly voices, mugging for the camera, playing old songs they loved as kids, and generally acting like brothers. Even Yoko Ono, who is widely cited as the reason the Beatles broke up, whether that’s accurate or not, doesn’t seem like the nail in the coffin that people often claimed she was. McCartney seems to enjoy “freak out” jam sessions with her and Lennon during some of the lulls in recording.
Of course, this is where we as an audience remember that McCartney and Starr are the last Beatles standing and thus had a major say in this documentary, which also lists Ono and Olivia Harrison among its producers. Like with any non-fiction work, it’s good to consider who’s telling the story and how their perspective might shape the narrative. It’s not that it skews the story, and they’re certainly not afraid to show some of the tense moments or passive-aggressive arguments, but when you’re cutting down 150 hours of footage and audio recordings, some of those choices can be influenced by who needs to give their seal of approval.
Still, Get Back is one of the most instantly captivating viewing experiences of the year. Even if you’re just a casual Beatles fan or if you just like seeing creative people get to work making something, this doc hooks you right from the start. By the time we arrive at the iconic rooftop concert, we feel like we’ve been through it all with them and we’re right there on the roof experiencing history together.
It’s fitting that Get Back hits Disney+ on Thanksgiving because it’s the perfect thing to watch with your family, and it will leave you feeling full and satisfied like a delicious meal.
