As turbulent and divided as this country is socially and politically, there is one thing which most people can agree on: how much the Beatles and their music re-shaped popular culture. What better way to look back on their timeless tunes and how they helped shape the 1960s than Julie Taymor's 2007 jukebox musical Across the Universe. While not a Beatles biopic, this film perfectly captures this country's youth during the 1960s. From their free-spirited lives of LSD, love, and music to their participation in the cultural revolution protesting the Vietnam War and its increasingly violent and morally dire backdrop. Speaking as someone who adores this movie and as a university student who attended a film history seminar at the University of California Santa Cruz, it is far past time to include Across the Universe in the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress.
Of the seventy-two movie musicals or musical shorts inducted in the Registry, there are no entries produced post-2000. In the case of this specific movie, its subject matters' timing and relevance could not have come at a more appropriate time. Not only would its potential inclusion make it the first post-2000 movie musical in the Registry, but its thematic subject matters are just as timeless and relevant as its use of the Beatles' music. The film's stylistic yet brutally honest representation of the national atmosphere during the 1960s surrounding the Civil Rights Movement, the hippie movement, the anti-war movement against the Vietnam War, and the generational youth rising to the occasion make for a timeless experience. Taymor, best recognized for her groundbreaking 1997 stage production of The Lion King on Broadway, brings her renowned theatrical sensibilities to this film. Namely, her use of technical and visual wizardry to the seamless blending of spectacle and intricate choreography with profound emotional resonance, further brought to life by the film's cast (including Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, and Dana Fuchs). Despite receiving mixed reviews and flopping at the box office, Across the Universe earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design. The movie also won approval from original Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and has gained a cult following among film enthusiasts in the years since.
Across the Universe follows a young Liverpudlian man named Jude (Sturgess), who travels to the United States during the 1960s to meet his distant father (played by Robert Clohessy), working as a janitor at Princeton University. However, his life takes a detour when he meets Lucy (Wood), an outgoing high school graduate emerging from her sheltered and privileged upbringing, her rebellious brother Max (Anderson), along with a group of distinct and talented characters. The likes of whom include an aspiring singer named Sadie (Fuchs), a guitarist named Jo-Jo (played by Martin Luther McCoy), and Prudence (played by T.V. Carpio), a lesbian school cheerleader. Eventually, Jude and Lucy fall for each other, but it is not long until their relationship gets put to the test. As Max gets drafted into the Vietnam War and Lucy's involvement in the anti-war movement escalates, Jude is left alienated and seemingly without purpose. However, not all is lost, as the characters eventually find their way back to each other through the power of music and love, or as Jude sings, "All you need is love."
The performances in this film are all-around delightful and emotionally profound. Sturgess and Wood's onscreen chemistry with each other as Jude and Lucy, respectively, is palpable. Their scenes together are sweet and heartfelt, which gives the movie's second and third acts their emotional punch as the country's social and political divides threaten to severe their relationship. The supporting cast deliver strong performances as well, especially Fuchs as Sadie, and McCoy as Jo-Jo. Fuch's raspy yet electric vocals for "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" and "Oh! Darling" immediately lights up the scenes she is in, and are highlights in the film's soundtrack. McCoy's soulful melancholiness provide this film with an emotional maturity and musical skill on the guitar that serves as the film's beating heart. Also, Bono's cameo as an existential guru named Dr. Robert singing "I Am the Walrus" is well worth the trip (literally).
One of the ways this movie stands out from the rest is how its characters represent crucial traits from the various sociological stages of the 1960s. From the beginning of the film, Jude transforms from a passive visitor to the United States to a man willing to help his friends when they are in trouble. Lucy undergoes a major arc from personifying the 1950s and early '60s girl next door type to a passionate yet empathetic advocate for social justice who emotionally and psychologically matures over time, much like the youth of the day. Max represents the young and reckless rebel who, after experiencing a hell-on-earth scenario in Vietnam, returns a psychologically damaged man who, at his core, maintains his humanity. Jo-Jo, an African-American guitarist, finds emotional and spiritual solace in his passion for playing the guitar after his younger brother (played by Timothy T. Mitchum) is killed during the 1967 Detroit Riot and Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. The latter of which Jo-Jo sings a slowed-down rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which speaks to the country's mourning state. As he states in the movie, "Music's the only thing that makes sense anymore, man. Play it loud enough; it keeps the demons at bay." Prudence, an Asian American lesbian, walks away from her school cheerleading team while longing for a fellow cheerleader while singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at the beginning of the movie. After escaping from an abusive relationship, Prudence joins the main characters' company and develops feelings toward Sadie. However, after witnessing Sadie start a relationship with Jo-Jo, Prudence metaphorically and literally locks herself inside a closet until she is gently encouraged by her friends through the song "Dear Prudence" to embrace her true self and come out, which is both important for modern-day representation of Asian American and LGBTQ characters in the film.
Julie Taymor is an underappreciated filmmaker, who, despite her technical and artistic understanding and skills, and inventive use of experimental elements, is mostly overlooked as a female director in Hollywood. Since then, she has not strayed too far from the world of stage and film by creating the Taymor World Theater Fellowship in 2016 and directing independent projects like The Glorias (2020). Not only would the inclusion of this film from Taymor in the National Film Registry signal a change in the tides of representation, but it would also highlight the skills she brought to Hollywood after her critical darling Frida (2002).
Two specific musical numbers from Across the Universe that showcase Taymor at her best are a heart-wrenching sequence of two funerals set to a somber rendition of "Let it Be" and a hard-hitting Vietnam War-themed recruitment set to "I Want You (She’s So Heavy)". The "Let it Be" number's thematic relevance relating to anti-black racism and police brutality while highlighting the United States' deeply rooted racial, economic, and social disparities give this movie a sense of timelessness, as it can be viewed in any year and still give audiences something to analyze from a historical and sociological standpoint. Regarding the latter number, the United States government and its warped perception of American patriotism serve as the movie's antagonist. The sight of the iconic Uncle Sam "I Want You" recruitment poster reaching out of the sign and pointing threateningly at Max while singing the song's first lines, as Max is dragged into a recruitment center conveys the unfathomable misleading of the public in the participation of an unwinnable war. For some audience members at the time, viewing the Vietnam War setting and the political murkiness within the government most likely reminded them of some of the contemporary political controversies like the United States Senate's 2004 report on the government's misleading of the American public on the location of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq.
Speaking of war, the subsequent psychological trauma inflicted on the returning troops from Vietnam and Max's addiction to morphine set to "Happiness is a Warm Gun" is from a creative perspective, highly provocative in a manner that gives new meaning to the original lyrics, as does the rest of the songs in this movie. Said provocativeness is also evident in Sadie's cover of "Helter Skelter", which is heard blasting in the background during the 1968 Columbia University protests. Not only does this add to the chaos of the social unrest unfolding on screen, but it would be a sight that is tragically being repeated over fifty years later. On the subject of anti-war demonstrators, the film makes the wise decision to include the morally shady factions of the Students for a Democratic Society like the Weather Underground movement, which expressed more radical views towards ending the war, like the overthrowing of American imperialism. Once Max gets drafted into the Vietnam War, Lucy finds herself gravitating towards the SDS members and their ideas. However, she leaves upon discovering that some members are constructing bombs, which prematurely detonates in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion of 1970.
As a musical tribute to the Beatles and a visual and auditory history lesson on 1960s culture, Across the Universe is second to none. Unlike other jukebox musicals like Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001), which continues to be a talking point among film critics and enthusiasts for its hyperactive direction, editing, and use of contemporary songs, this movie's stylistic approach to retelling a critical chapter in American history through the lens of a visually hypnotic yet humanely intimate portrait of both a snapshot of life for young Americans during one of its most transformative decades and a heartfelt tale of love, war, growth, and music over a single decade. When looking back at history, very few fictional films set during the 1960s can effectively tell and balance multiple storylines with the level of technical skills and emotional nuance in visual storytelling that Julie Taymor brings to her productions. Considering Taymor's expertise, there is no better moment than now to give her the recognition she deserves.
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