When sitting down to watch the documentary ‘THE ROLLING STONES OLE’ OLE’ OLE’ – A TRIP ACROSS LATIN AMERICA’ (Director Paul Dugdale, 100 mins), it was hard not to think:
With such a glut of Stones documentaries and in-concert films already on the market, is another really necessary?
Indeed, does the marketplace really need more footage of a famous rock band – even one as singularly wonderful as the Rolling Stones – boarding aeroplanes or arriving backstage?
Well after viewing the largely excellent film made by Dugdale, the conclusion to be drawn was ‘yes’ on both counts. Sure there are some brilliant clips of the Stones in superb live form and true, we do see them at airports and in the moments just before they hit the stage – but there is far more going on than just producing a throwaway account of a ten-city jaunt through South America during the Spring of 2016.
The final show of the tour was scheduled for Havana – with much of the screen time given to overcoming the political obstacles that stood between the Stones and playing the first major rock concert ever staged in Cuba.
Due to state-controlled sponsorship enforced by Military Governments during the 60s and 70s, rock music was rarely heard in Latin America through this period – jail awaited those caught listening to such subversive tones – and as Mick Jagger reflects during a rehearsal break in Los Angeles where the film starts:
‘The Rolling Stones, being part of the rebellious movement, were an anathema to a lot of those regimes.’
Although some would argue the Stones had become jet-set outlaws by the end of the 60s, there is no doubting from the film their music became a covert mode of defiance to the repression being suffered – and when democracy began to return, as it did to Argentina in 1995, the Rolling Stones were seen as purveyors of the liberation.
Such is their exaltation in Buenos Aires, a whole Stones inspired sub-culture has emerged, these hard-core devotees known as ‘Rolingas‘ – the film-makers going onto the streets to explore the phenomenon.
Through sub-titles we learn ‘the Stones are a religion here,’ that a child held up to the camera is called Jagger ‘after his Majesty‘ and that every week a large group gather in a restaurant to eat, drink and celebrate the Rolling Stones – these events known, naturally, as a ‘Beggars Banquet.’
Hats off to them – what a fabulous way to spend an evening.
The frenzy that greets the group on their arrival, (‘it’s like a large version of the Sixties,’ remarks drummer Charlie Watts, ‘mad‘), is exemplified when their fleet of people-carriers pull up, pre-show, at a stadium in the Argentine capital.
After they have sped through the security barriers, one bystander is seen crying and on his haunches by the roadside – fears that he has been struck by a fast-moving vehicle allayed when his wife explains:
‘He just saw Mick – he’s very emotional.’
Hell, if people are going to be so moved by a rock group then why should it not be arguably the most influential and definitely the most famous on the planet?
The exhilaration in the stadium when the Stones emerge from the wings is palpable and distinctly moving – and with thousands upon thousands of people jumping up and down to the opening refrain of ‘Paint It Black‘ it makes Glastonbury look like afternoon tea in an English country garden.
Even at the septuagenarian stage of life, Jagger, the ultimate rock showman, is still full of pout and athleticism, guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood trade sublime licks, hamming it up behind the singer to great effect – while Watts, the rock drummer par excellence, appears to have replaced bored stares with brief, contented smiles as the Stones ride a tidal wave of exuberance.
Writers Jagger and Richards explain the evolution of the songs which will enthrall Stonesologists – as will a reading of ‘Honky Tonk Women,’ performed in a rehearsal room by Mick, who receives accompaniment only from Keith playing some virtuoso acoustic guitar.
Through every stage of the documentary the spectre of whether or not they will manage to pull off the Havana gig looms large – and even after arrangements are confirmed and contracts signed with the Cuban authorities, problematic issues abound.
The date earmarked for the show has to be changed as it falls on the day Barack Obama suddenly states his intention to be the first US President to visit Cuba for eighty years – and when the performance is re-arranged for five days later, the Vatican become involved as the gig will now be played on Good Friday, bringing an objection from the Pope.
‘That’s cheeky of him,’ remarks Richards, ‘he’s not my manager,’ but following an exchange of e-mails, the show receives the green-light, all hurdles finally overcome – the Havana roar acclaiming the Stones as they open with ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll‘ so loud the group can barely hear each other.
Before the concert a camera crew had merged with those awaiting entry outside the venue. ‘For years you would be arrested in Cuba for listening to the Rolling Stones,’ says a man of late middle-age, visibly moved by the poignancy of what is about to unfold:
‘The government – they stole our youth. So today is an overdose of freedom.’
And there was us thinking we had much to thank the Rolling Stones for.
This article was first published on 9/7/2019.
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller available as an Amazon Kindle Book.
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