Whether you "wanna revolution," need to cheer up your friend Jude, or hope to find out if you're a walrus, Across the Universe has enough Beatles songs to make a cover band envious. While director Julie Taymor's latest film has been met with comparisons to Moulin Rouge, the only similarity is the use of preexisting song material and the simple fact that both films are musicals. Across the Universe is a musical film based entirely on the music of the Beatles-and as the Beatles would agree, it's all about love. And if love songs are the undoing of this world, then the message of Across the Universe will undo all across every city, border, and, of course, the universe.
Across the Universe brings the spectacle of the stage to a tormented ‘60s that doesn't know how to cope with war and civil unrest. What better way to reflect this inner and external turmoil than to highlight the ‘60s ambiguous need for love. Despite differing views about politics, social change, sexual confusion, and mind expansion, "all you need is love." We might not know how to change the world, but we know we need love, and until we can truly vocalize the specifics of that love, we'll keep speaking in broad terms.
Each musical film has its own feel. Rent was a musical of everyday life. Moulin Rouge was a visual spectacle. Chicago was a Broadway show in film format. But Across the Universe did not take a side-some numbers were epic while others allowed the music to move the imagination. Across the Universe covered many different musical subgenres because its responsibility was to embody the voice of the countercultural ‘60s. But it did not remain a simple tale of two lovers, but told the story of those who lived through race riots, the Vietnam War, and the sexual revolution-all the while finding community despite prejudice and taboos. Of course, the hippie movement was not idealized to the point of blind bias, for heartache was at the center of these characters' lives. But let us not forget the film's thesis, "all you need is love." Despite the surrounding world, love can overcome-and that is the way of free love, cheap weed, and braided hair.
Across the Universe is a story of a love we thought we knew. But this love is given a heart rooted in romance, community, and the struggles of the world. This is a film that transcends the importance of the Beatles as a band. Across the Universe takes us out of the lives of four flawed musicians (and Yoko drama) and into the world in which they lived, through their music. The confused ‘60s turned to music for answers. And Across the Universe reminds us that the only assurances in life are not death and taxes but struggle and love.
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Tim Posada is a freelance writer living in Southern California who just finished a master's degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. When not pouring coffee for a living or watching 24 or the latest movie, he's normally asleep.
Across the Universe (Trailer)
