Greendale

It is not really a secret any more that Bernard Shakey is a pseudonym for no one other than Neil Young. If we know that Shakey/Young himself operated the (small 8mm) camera for his film, then it’s not difficult to guess the origin of the pseudonym. Neil Young is of course primarily a musician and the basis of the film is formed by a series of songs on an album that is also called Greendale. Harsh and coarse guitar rock with simple and personal songs. Together, these songs form a story and that story is portrayed in the film. A film you could regard as one long music video, but you could also regard the album as the soundtrack of the film. Greendale is a music film that is not easy to put into a genre. It is made up of home-movie-like fragments that together form the many facets of a story. The Green family lives in Greendale, a small town on the Californian coast. The family is made up of many generations and they all get worked up about the activities of companies that threaten the environment. But world politics are also discussed on the veranda: the dishonest war against terrorism and the dishonesty of politicians in general. One of the younger Green daughters turns into an environmental terrorist. A young son is put in jail for killing a policeman. Keep on rocking in the free world, the master said it before. (GjZ)