Music
NXNE Film Review: Sounds Like A Revolution
by Allan Tong
June 16, 2010
The Bush era inspired a new generation of activist musicians, singing to create social change. Made by Toronto filmmakers Summer Love and Jane Michener, Sounds Like A Revolution chronicles the aims and struggles of Michael Franti (Spearhead), Fat Mike (NOFX), Paris, and Justin Sane (Anti-Flag) who campaign against the Iraq War and the far-right Republican agenda.
Plays NXNE Wednesday, June 16
The Bush era inspired a new generation of activist musicians, singing to create social change. Made by Toronto filmmakers Summer Love and Jane Michener, Sounds Like A Revolution chronicles the aims and struggles of Michael Franti (Spearhead), Fat Mike (NOFX), Paris, and Justin Sane (Anti-Flag) who campaign against the Iraq War and the far-right Republican agenda.
The film starts as a series of straightforward profiles, but picks up steam when it compares today’s protest music with the sixties. That was the era when Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Pete Seeger’s “We Shall Overcome” and CSNY’s “Ohio” filled the airwaves and streets. Though music is as accessible as ever in the internet age, so is corporate censorship. Since the sixties, the music industry has fallen into the hands of a handful of corporations who decide what the masses can hear. Also, the American audience has arguably grown more conservative. Just witness the backlash that the Dixie Chicks suffered for criticizing George W.
Though it preaches to the converted, Sounds Like A Revolution possesses great energy and raises some complex issues about dissent, freedom of speech and music.
Watch the trailer:
