When Joe Strummer passed away in December 2002, it was obvious that a new chapter in the story of The Clash needed to be written. The 2000 Clash doc Westway to the World had hit too soon to capture and contextualize the outpouring of emotions and memories following the death of the band’s frontman and only consistent member.
The Future is Unwritten calls upon a large ensemble of voices (band mates, ex-girlfriends, co-workers, and celebrities) to build a well-rounded biography of Strummer. However, the most surprising and powerful voice in the mix is Strummer’s own. Retrieved from BBC archives of his World Service radio show London Calling, his own descriptions and recollections add an important and unexpected dimension, making it almost surreal to remember that he is dead.
The narrative follows Strummer’s globetrotting youth (his father was a diplomat stationed in Iran, Turkey, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia), his eventual entry into a strict private boys’ school, his older brother’s stint with Nazism and subsequent suicide. When music arrives in Strummer’s life, the film vividly details the history of his four major music projects: The 101ers, The Clash, his “Wilderness” phase, and The Mescaleros.
Unwritten makes great use of old home videos, concert and backstage footage, as well as present-day interviews. Certain conversations are filled out visually with re-purposed stock footage, presented in an appropriately tongue-in-cheek manner. Unfortunately, this trick was overused and sometimes confusing.
Another interesting choice was not superimposing the names of any of the interview subjects. Most people quickly made reference to how they fit into the Strummer story, but remembering the massive cast of players was difficult, and could prove impossible for people not already well-versed in Clash mythology.
Also odd were some of the celebrity talking heads. The weird list includes: John Cusack, Matt Dillon, Martin Scorsese, Steve Buscemi (who was actually great), Johnny Depp (wearing his costume from Pirates of the Caribbean for some insane reason), and Bono (sporting threads from the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb tour for some other insane reason—including sunglasses at night).
That being said, Unwritten offers an intimate look into the difficult and often contradictory path taken by Strummer. Seen now in pop culture as one of the archetypes of punk, watch him perform rockabilly with hippie squatters in his first band The 101ers.
After getting upstaged by the then up-and-coming Sex Pistols at a gig, Strummer is recruited by a manager to form a band that will play off the Pistols’ new punk sound. With that, The Clash is born and Strummer instantly adopts the punk look, disbands The 101ers, and stonewalls all his old hippie friends.
If punk ethos is all about self expression, it’s telling to hear Clash drummer Topper Headon say it took years for him to ever see Strummer “out of character.” The circumstance for this revelation was that Headon and Strummer were both arrested and imprisoned in the same jail cell for three days after getting busted with 30 stolen hotel pillows while on tour.
With all his imperfections, Strummer still emerges as one of the most talented lyricists and singers of the 20th century. His love for a diverse array of musical styles (dub, rap, reggae, country, rock, punk) is reflected in the music that accompanies the film (oftentimes the selections are introduced by Strummer himself in clips from his radio show).
Taken as a whole, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten is a fitting, if slightly imperfect look back at one of the most influential rock musicians of all time.
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten opens February 4 at The Royal Cinema.
