It would now take longer to sift through the biographies, interviews and documentaries made about The Beatles than it would to sit down and listen to their discography. Throw another log on the fire. How The Beatles Changed the World cannot get any worse than it already is out there in the minefield of cash-in docs, anniversary think pieces and talking heads wanting to wax off about their brief encounter with Ringo Starr. How bad can it be? Tom O’Dell has not done much of note before or after this documentary but anyone with opposable thumbs and a studio backing can have a crack at The Beatles. There are the incredible efforts of Martin Scorsese and Peter Jackson, and then there are those without unlimited access. Those who must make do with publicly available pieces, soundbites telling us the obvious and a “will they remember” mentality.
How The Beatles Changed the World has a dreadful task on its hands. Not only must it convince audiences of what they already, deep down, know, but it must make itself look like it was the documentary which made the discovery of monumental talent in The Beatles. There are some truly contentious comments made in the early moments of this documentary which are neither revisited nor backed up. Bob Dylan would have gone electric without The Beatles’ involvement, the world would have ticked on, for better or worse, without their impact on how we perceive chart music. All of it is easy to comment as positive with the benefit of hindsight, with this broad net many music historians throw at the Fab Four. Make no mistake, their influence is far greater than any other musical band in history and it will remain that way forever, but How The Beatles Changed the World takes some real liberties.
Beyond those questionable comments, however brief they were, there is an indication of The Beatles’ placement not just as a musical movement but as a complete cultural reinvention. This passionate display from O’Dell and his talking heads is worth its weight, and the little avenues of interest not trodden by other documentaries are the mainstay here, the brilliant part of How The Beatles Changed the World. It feels very by-the-numbers and made-for-TV for a documentary but there is an unquestionable consistency to it once it settles down. But all it can do, ultimately, is repeat the information you can get with an hour stuck in the pub with a man obsessed with Rubber Soul. All the usual shortcomings of The Beatles’ documentarians are here.
From sidelining Harrison’s involvement in the band to a blinkered view of the group not just as cultural purveyors but as an act of traditional pop. What was fresh, to begin with, becomes a relatively tame group in hindsight, and this is where The Beatles’ keenest minds often disagree. Expect the spots of commentary on The Beatles being “bigger than Jesus,” and the hand-wringing needed to get around the obvious comments Lennon made throughout the tour. There is a delicacy to these commentaries which evades the fact that, ultimately, we are within our right to criticise The Beatles, to talk dirty of them for the sake of understanding them better. There are some cheap connections to the Vietnam War filtering through and while these may feel like interesting pockets for a music documentary it, like much of the points made in How The Beatles Changed the World, feels like a massive reach.
