The Police
Everyone Stares - The Police Inside Out BluRay
Review by Gary Hill
The short form on this is that it is a film that documents the inside track of The Police from the beginning all the way through. That doesn't do this justice, though. Stewart Copeland got a movie camera in the early days of the band and set about filming all kinds of things from conversations in the car going to gigs to studio time and more. He even set up the camera on a tripod behind him at gigs. He has assembled all of the clips into a documentary featuring his narration and descriptions of what was going on. This is really the story of The Police on their rise to the top through to the disintegration of the band.
Copeland has a great sense of humor and a fairly enlightened way of looking at things. Sure, it's from his perspective, but he comes across as quite honest. This is a fascinating way to look at the history of the band. They go from doing a record signing in a store with only a small crowd of people showing up to being one of the biggest bands around. They also go from a band of friends working together on music to a group that really seems to have all the focus from song-writing to media attention on just one member of the group.
This is the kind of thing that's well worth watching over and over again. You are likely to take different things from it each time. To me there are a lot of lessons to be learned here about everything from group dynamics to friendships, the insular effect of fame and much more. Sure, fans of the band will be the most likely audience, but this has something of interest to just about anyone I would think.
This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2019 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2019.
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