SCREENINGS AND MEANINGS

By Gerald Schmitz

White Stripes’ tour has classic documentary feel

The White Stripes Under
Great White Northern Lights
(US 2009)

It was one of those “you had to be there” moments. Mid-afternoon on a Canada Day Sunday in 2007, superstar duo Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes performed a 15-minute set in the unlikely confines of Saskatoon’s Eastview bowling alley, where my dad played regularly in a seniors’ league for years. A snippet from this is just one among such quirky free daytime sideshows — others being on a boat in Halifax harbour, a Winnipeg city bus, a pool hall, a flour mill, to name a few — featured in Emmet Malloy’s outstanding documentary on the Detroit-based rock group’s remarkable tour of all 13 Canadian provinces and territories during the summer of 2007. The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights has had only a brief theatrical release but fortunately is available as a special DVD set.

While I was unable to attend any of those 2007 live shows, being at the film’s rapturously received world premiere last Sept. 18 at the Toronto film festival was a thrill in itself. I happened to be wearing a red and white T-shirt, a present from my sister, with “Canada rocks” and an image of an Inuit inukshuk on the front; perfect for the occasion, especially since the band’s Nunavut stop is a particular highlight. After the lights went up, during the question and answer session I was able to confirm from Malloy, Jack and Meg that the project was carefully premeditated and planned even if the result brims with spontaneous energy. The couple’s affection for Canada, despite being the only country they’ve ever had to pay a fee to enter, is palpable throughout.

Malloy, a veteran director of music videos, does a superb job of capturing the atmosphere of the tour, which ranges from moody and introspective to electrifying nights on stage. A large part is filmed in black and white, giving it a classic documentary feel (Don’t Look Back on Dylan in 1967, Rattle and Hum on U2 in 1988), with bursts of colour sequences that are like a rush of blood to the head. The band’s trademark tricolour scheme of red, black and white has never been more effectively conveyed. Along the way, slices of Canadiana from coast to coast to coast have a key supporting role. The vast land, peculiar landmarks, and people, complete with provincial and territorial flags waving, are a character in the film.

Indeed the White Stripes are intrigued by the smaller places they visit. Massive shows in the largest cities are absent from the film, probably because it is hard to distinguish them from any other big-city concert. While they headlined Ottawa’s Bluesfest that July to great acclaim, what makes it into the film is a musical interlude with children at a local community centre. They seem consciously to search for unexpected ways to connect with diverse audiences.

After starting with their famous “one-note” outdoor performance in St. John’s, N.L., then jumping to the opposite West Coast, Under Great White Northern Lights heads north to Whitehorse in the Yukon. Arriving in a single-prop plane as elsewhere in this north of 60 arc, Jack and Meg are welcomed by local mayors. Together with their sharply dressed roadies (black suits and fedoras), they create quite a stir. For a group that has soared to global fame after emerging from the motor city’s alternative rock scene in 1997, they genuinely get into the spirit of these remote places, marvelling at the sights and bantering with taxi drivers.

The most memorable stop is in Iqaluit where they meet with a group of Inuit elders and listen to their stories, then play for each other. Jack strums the guitar to a Blind Willie McTell rhythm and blues song from the Deep South. An old man serenades on the accordion as an old woman does a little dance. It’s an enchanting encounter. At that night’s main concert they seem to be on fire — Jack, the singer and virtuoso guitarist (already a legend as showcased in 2008’s It Might Get Loud); partner Meg, the quiet, shy one, pounding out the beat on drums. You do not have to be familiar with their albums or hits to appreciate what a hypnotic, mesmerizing presence they can be commanding the stage. Eschewing predetermined setlists in favour of improvisation, “the music is completely in charge of us” Jack says early on. Later they explain to a curious truck driver, “we make a lot of noise between us.” An amazing amount, really.

The Nunavut sequence also shows private contemplative moments between the two away from it all, strolling hand in hand across an Arctic landscape, past a graveyard of white crosses on to a black and white expanse of ice and rocky shore.

One of the pleasures of Under Great White Northern Lights are these down times and interview segments where, with Jack typically doing most of the talking, the enigma of The White Stripes is explored. Jack and Meg have claimed to be brother and sister — and they look like they could be — although it turns out they were once married prior to their rise to fame. They obviously have a special bond that sustains them and that explodes into high-energy sonic excitement in their live concerts.

Not for them “just this boring arena set.” Making music is a constant test of creativity. “I like to do things to make it hard for myself,” says Jack. He’s not deterred by criticism either, quoting Spin Magazine’s take that: “The White Stripes are simultaneously the most fake band in the world and the most real.” It’s the same with every album. In these candid conversations Jack seems more like a protective big brother than an ex-husband to the ever reticent Meg.

The film moves to a crescendo with their exuberant 10th anniversary concert on July 14, 2007 in the Savoy Theatre of Glace Bay, N.S. It closes, however, on a reflective tone, with Jack and Meg alone at the piano. As he sings a plaintive ballad, a tear runs down her cheek and he leans over to give her a comforting hug. In fact, the Canadian tour was to be The White Stripes’ last performance for several years as subsequent dates were cancelled citing Meg’s anxiety problems. One senses that without being told. Under Great White Northern Lights has an air of uniqueness and valediction about it.

If America’s White Stripes chose Canada to record their finest hours, several celebrated Canadian rockers are the subject of new documentaries premiering south of the border. Renowned director Jonathan Demme’s Neil Young Trunk Show, first shown at the Austin, Texas South by Southwest festival in March 2009, opened stateside on March 19. Sam Dunn and Scot McFayden’s Rush: Beyond the Lighted State, charting the hard-driving trio’s musical journey since the 1970s, will be seen at New York’s Tribeca festival this month before moving on to Toronto’s Hot Docs festival in early May.

Let me also mention Michèle Hozer’s and Peter Raymont’s excellent Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould. In his own way he revolutionized classical music and the recording of it.

It’s easy to lose track amid today’s cacophony of instant musical choices. That’s where documentaries come in to embed music within personal stories and socio-cultural contexts that resonate long after the final chords have sounded. Whatever your tastes, The White Stripes’ rocking discovery of Canada is one of those revelatory expressions that is not to be missed.

Schmitz is a freelance writer based in Ottawa.