Tom Morello offers his version of creative response in LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR
LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR (Antonino D’Ambrosio, 2012)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St.
Opens Friday, December 14
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.letfuryhavethehour.com
In his recently released book Let Fury Have the Hour: Joe Strummer, Punk, and the Movement That Shook the World, author, editor, and visual artist Antonino D’Ambrosio writes, “Let Fury Have the Hour, the book and film, is a call to celebrate the art of living, or being for, not against. For the movie, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, D’Ambrosio brought together some fifty artists to talk about how they use creative response in a positive way to deal with the social, political, and economic outrage that began in the 1980s with the separatist policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and has exploded today. Shot over the course of seven years, the film features intelligent discourse from such musicians as Billy Bragg, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, Wayne Kramer from the MC5, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Eugene Hütz from Gogol Bordello, and, perhaps most eloquently, Ian MacKaye from Fugazi and Minor Threat. In addition, street artist Shepard Fairey (whose designs can be seen throughout the film), spoken-word poet Staceyann Chin, comedian Lewis Black, filmmaker John Sayles, author Edwidge Danticat, playwright Eve Ensler, choreographer Elizabeth Streb, skateboarder Tommy Guerrero, and many more share how the DIY punk aesthetic influences them in their work and their daily life as they continue to fight the power through artistic self-expression that understands the interconnectedness of everything. “Our freedom of speech is our freedom from death,” Chuck D states. The jumping-off point for many of those in the film, as well as D’Ambrosio himself, was the music of the Clash; the title comes from a line in the Clash classic “Clampdown.” D’Ambrosio and editor Karim Lopez supplement the original interviews, which are all conducted in personal settings unique to each individual, with dramatic archival footage of political and artistic movements from around the world throughout the twentieth century, backed by a score composed by Kramer with songs by Public Enemy, Hütz, Sean Hayes, and others. It all comes together in a rousing wake-up call that is a direct counter to Reagan’s “Morning in America” agenda. “A citizen is someone who participates,” DJ Spooky says in the film. D’Ambrosio is seeking to spread his message of creative response by getting as many citizens as possible to participate in any way they can, making an ambitious film that avoids coming off as propaganda and instead feels necessary in these hard times.