★ 7 / 10
This is a 2012 documentary of Ginger Baker
CRCulver
This is a 2012 documentary of Ginger Baker by Jay Bulger, a journalist who wrote a Rolling Stone article of the legendary English rock drummer and later was…
This is a 2012 documentary of Ginger Baker by Jay Bulger, a journalist who wrote a Rolling Stone article of the legendary English rock drummer and later was able to interview him at length on his South African estate. Centered around Baker's recollections, the documentary proceeds through his life chronologically. We start his discovery of jazz records as a child, his early career as a musician and then the acclaimed groups of the 1960s that cemented his reputation (Cream, Blind Faith and Ginger Baker's Air Force). Much time is spent on his time in Nigeria in the early 1970s, when he played with Fela Kuti and ran a state-of-the-art recording studio in Lagos.
The documentary pretty much declares the mid-1970s on as the downhill period of Ginger Baker's life. From then on, tax problems, failed marriages and being deported overshadow what little musical productivity he had left. Even before then, he is painted as a fantastic drummer but a very flawed human being. Some of the rock musicians here (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Steve Winwood and many others) praise his technical skills, but there's just as much complaint that he is impossible to work with. Interviews with his ex-wives, sister and son depict a man who was always prepared to unroot himself and abandon his loved ones. The greatest example of Ginger Baker's unlikeability is the opening scene of the documentary: when Jay Bulger tells him that he now intends to go off and interview others for their side of the story, Baker strikes him in the face with his cane.
This is generally a well-rounded documentary that covers all the bases. In spite of the filmmaker's wish to exaggerate the poignant nature of Baker's career arc, the drummer himself admirably refuses to go along. However, I had a few minor complaints while watching the documentary. One is that Jay Bulger is a young American man of the "bro" type, which sorely jives with the Britain-Nigeria axis that is the foundation of Baker's career. Happily, he stays out of the way for the most part. Some of the animations that were made just for the documentary are silly, and there is such an abundance of archival footage that there was arguably no need for something extra.
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★ 8 / 10
tomgraham101-39-39878
I have just seen this film at a BFI screening, with Jay Bulger and the fearsome Mr Baker himself turning up on stage afterwards for a fractious Q&A that ended…
I have just seen this film at a BFI screening, with Jay Bulger and the fearsome Mr Baker himself turning up on stage afterwards for a fractious Q&A that ended with shouting, swearing, recriminations all round, and Jay Bulger seemingly storming off stage. The perfect end to a brilliant documentary!The story is fascinating and engaging throughout, with Ginger Baker himself coming across as a complex and contradictory character. While you're appalled at much of his behaviour (he comes across as a pretty damn terrible father/husband/work colleague), you can't help but admire his incredible energy and drive, his prodigious musical talent, and his refusal to ever let life beat him down.The sparing use of beautiful and rather poetic animation works very well, and Jay Bulger himself refrains from including himself too much in the finished film - and when he does take centre stage for a moment, it's an extraordinary (and violent!) moment.By the way - Jay, if you're reading this, I'm sorry people shouted at you after the screening. Perhaps, given the subject matter, it's only appropriate that the whole thing ended in acrimony. And hats off to you for getting a cold, reserved audience of Brits so fired up and vocal. Great work - loved the film.
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★ 8 / 10
"Then I think about the love that you laid on my table...."
Quinoa1984
Ginger Baker just liked banging things around. And as soon as some directed him in the way of drums - and some of the premier jazz drummers of the 1950's…
Ginger Baker just liked banging things around. And as soon as some directed him in the way of drums - and some of the premier jazz drummers of the 1950's, which was kind of the apotheosis of jazz - he was set for life. And this life included being apart of two of the major rock bands of the 1960's (Cream and Blind Faith) along with others, then became a figurehead of African drumming in the 1970's, and then... semi-obscurity, polo, playing with some band that got lost in the shuffle of the 90's grunge scene, polo, ex-wives, polo, and um... I said polo right? Though Cream was sort of cited as the grandfather or forefather for heavy metal (hey there's Lars from Metallica in the doc), Baker comes off more like a craggly jazz-man-cum-punk-rocker, who didn't give a f**k and even gives the director of his documentary a piece of his mind with his cane! Kind of a prime example of a man who you know you wouldn't want to spend more than two minutes with - hard to feel sorry for a man who wasted all his money, and Cream reunion money no less (I couldn't afford those tickets man!) on horses and dogs (he says they are more trustworthy and loving of humans) - yet he really is just one of the drummers that changed the game for everyone.Also fascinating to find out a musician from the 60's - and husband and father - who really could have just torpedoed all of his good luck from the era in two decades afterward. A good documentary on what the Brits could call a 'right old nasty bastard.'
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Yes, but Bonham became a "greater" drummer than Baker.