George Harrison: Living in the Material World

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Overview

Martin Scorsese turns his documentary skills on former Beatle George Harrison in this documentary centering on the musician's time with the Fab Four as well as his solo career, spiritual beliefs, and time working in the movie business.
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Note: Special deluxe edition includes both DVD and Blu-ray editions of "Living in the Material World" in special picture frame packaging, a 96-page book of photography to accompany the film, plus the exclusive 10-track CD, "Early Takes, Volume 1", featuring previously unreleased music from George Harrison.

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Overview

Martin Scorsese turns his documentary skills on former Beatle George Harrison in this documentary centering on the musician's time with the Fab Four as well as his solo career, spiritual beliefs, and time working in the movie business.
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Special Features

Music Extras; Interviews
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert
There are few American directors who have put spirituality and the quest for redemption as front and center in their work as Martin Scorsese. With this in mind, it's easy to see why he was drawn to George Harrison as a documentary subject. The quiet Beatle fell into the excesses that would be expected for anyone who earns unimaginable fame and fortune when they're just barely out of their teens, but he was also genuinely interested in attaining spiritual purity. Scorsese uses this quest as the motif for his lengthy documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, turning the entire film into a tribute to a man who both created a world of extensive material wealth for himself, and who attempted to transcend it in his death. Anyone with an interest in Beatles history needs to see this, because Scorsese had access to a wealth of previously unreleased footage; some of it -- like Harrison in the 1970s watching a clip of the young Fab Four performing "That Boy" and not being able to keep from smiling warmly and singing along -- make it clear that these were just four guys who had the right talents, the right chemistry, and hit the public at the right time. The Beatles story has been told so many times that Scorsese doesn't feel the need to be exhaustive about their entire career: He picks and chooses the periods that affected Harrison's journey the most. The movie focuses a great deal of time on their days in Hamburg, where they played for hours at a time in a rough-and-tumble city full of drugs, prostitutes, strippers, and sailors with money to burn. There's a great quote from Harrison about this period to the effect that it was quite a lesson for a 17-year-old kid to be exposed to those sights. Photographer Astrid Kirchherr and artist Klaus Voormann also offer a number of intimate insights into this formative period for Harrison and the band. After the burst of Beatlemania, and a number of very funny clips of Harrison at various press conferences, Scorsese gets around to introducing the major theme of the film -- Harrison's spiritual quest. And he does it slyly, spending a few minutes on the infamous furor that flared up when John Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. This sequence is scored to Harrison's "If I Needed Someone,"" and this is the first of many instances throughout the movie where Scorsese gets us to contemplate the possible religious meanings in Harrison's songs, even the ones that seem like innocuous, pretty ballads. Not long after LSD expands Harrison's mind, he discovers Ravi Shankar, whose sitar playing expresses his divine beliefs, and Harrison admits Shankar is the first man he's ever been impressed by. We are treated to stories about his generosity, as well as his prickly sense of humor and his steely resolve including his dismissal of music producer George Martin's suggestions in the studio, with some of the best anecdotes coming from Harrison's longtime friend Eric Clapton. Clapton talks with remarkable intimacy about his jealousy of Harrison's massive success, and Harrison's jealousy of Clapton's artistic freedom. Their bond is deep enough that years later, when Clapton marries Harrison's ex-wife Patti, it doesn't seem to do any damage at all to their friendship. His interviews help give us a side of Harrison that isn't usually discussed. But the best interviewee, the one person who seemed to truly understand Harrison's earnest need to seek out the divine as well as his inevitable desire for earthly pleasures, is his second wife Olivia. She tells stories about their time together, including one early in their relationship in which he's smugly passing judgment on the books she's reading. She makes him sound like a difficult person to be around some of the time, but it's also readily apparent that she loved him thoroughly. Between her recollection of his final moments, and Ringo Starr's heartbreaking tale of the last conversation he had with his old friend, it's impossible not to be moved by the film's final 20 minutes, even if the preceding hour leans a little too heavily on pedestrian live footage of Harrison on a tour that was infamously savaged by critics. What comes through in the end is a tribute to a man who, by all accounts, succeeded in his spiritual journey, but at some level it's an incomplete portrait. As stated earlier, the section of the movie devoted to the Beatles is far from exhaustive, since Scorsese assumes you know the story already -- a fact that stands in stark contrast to his superb Bob Dylan documentary, which offered a nearly scholarly assessment of Dylan's life through 1966. And it's far from a definitive biography of Harrison: It would seem he did nothing between 1975 and 1988, when he recorded an album with the Traveling Wilburys -- a section of his life that inspires Tom Petty to share a couple of hilarious anecdotes, as well as a poignant one about the phone call he got from Harrison when Roy Orbison died. And even the title of the movie, Living in the Material World, turns out to be a piece of misdirection, for although the movie is certainly about his life, it also dwells on his death. This is appropriate, for Harrison certainly was obsessed with the topic; he wanted to die in the best possible way -- that was the reason for all of his metaphysical learning. This movie would be morbid, or a romanticizing of death, if the director were a young man. But Scorsese was born five months before Harrison, and it's hard to escape the feeling that Scorsese wanted to make the movie in order to get closer to what he thinks of as Harrison's achievements in this regard. It's appealing to believe that you can die with dignity and grace, and that you do go on to something better. The movie resonates because for all of Harrison's flaws, Scorsese believes he accomplished his most-important goal.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 5/1/2012
  • UPC: 602527974446
  • Original Release: 2011
  • Source: Hip-O Records
  • Region Code: 1
  • Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
  • Presentation: Box Set Edition
  • Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Language: English
  • Time: 8:04:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 26,129

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
George Harrison
Paul McCartney Participant
Ringo Starr Participant
Eric Clapton Participant
Terry Gilliam Participant
Eric Idle Participant
George Martin
Yoko Ono Participant
Tom Petty Participant
Phil Spector
Jackie Stewart Participant
Technical Credits
Martin Scorsese Director, Producer
Margaret Bodde Executive Producer
Rachel Cooper Associate Producer
Erin Edeiken Associate Producer
Erin Edeiken Associate Producer
Olivia Harrison Producer
Nigel Sinclair Producer
David Tedeschi Editor
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- George Harrison: Living in the Material World - The Movie, Part 1
1. Fly Away [11:58]
2. Another One With Love [9:45]
3. How Many Beatles Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb? [13:53]
4. He Was The Sole Guy, He Had No One To Work With [7:47]
5. Don't Bother Me [12:48]
6. Yogis Of The Himalayas [7:17]
7. The Process Of Thinking Has Not To Be Learned [2:51]
8. There's Nothing Mystical About It [8:32]
9. Wake Up [10:08]
Disc #2 -- George Harrison: Living in the Material World - The Movie - Part 2/Bonus Features
1. Ying Yang-In Out, You're Here To Go [10:25]
2. It Was A Beautiful Spring Morning [9:49]
3. People Say I'm The Beatle Who Changed The Most [12:31]
4. Beware Of Darkness [11:11]
5. Sir Frank Helped My Awareness [8:57]
6. Running On A Dark Race Course [8:26]
7. I Think I've Got A Film Company [8:25]
8. What Should We Be Doing To Make Our Lives Better [8:23]
9. Beyond The Ken [3:07]
10. He's Still Around, Just Listen [8:57]
11. Tiptoe Through The Tulips [9:57]
12. Credits [7:54]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- George Harrison: Living in the Material World - The Movie, Part 1
   Play
   Scene Selection
   Setup
      5.1 Dolby Digital
      2.0 Dolby Digital
      English Hard of Hearing Subtitles: On/Off
         English Hard of Hearing Subtitles: On
         English Hard of Hearing Subtitles: Off
Disc #2 -- George Harrison: Living in the Material World - The Movie - Part 2/Bonus Features
   Play
   Scene Selection
   Bonus Features
      Music Extras
         George Plays The Uke
         Deep Blue (Sound Check From Concert For Bangladesh)
         Here Comes The Sun
         Dispute And Violence
      Interviews
         Growing Up In Liverpool
         Paul McCartney
         Neil Aspinall
         The Inner Light
         Jeff Lynne
         Gordon Murray
         Damon Hill
   Setup
      5.1 Dolby Digital
      2.0 Dolby Digital
      English Hard of Hearing Subtitles: On/Off
         English Hard of Hearing Subtitles: On
         English Hard of Hearing Subtitles: Off
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 4 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(4)

4 Star

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3 Star

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2 Star

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1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Posted May 1, 2012

    A must have DVD for Beatles and George Harrison fans. Ten years

    A must have DVD for Beatles and George Harrison fans. Ten years have passed since we lost George Harrison. All things must pass.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 24, 2012

    Excellent film about the most unknown Beatle......and it's about

    Excellent film about the most unknown Beatle......and it's about time. George had such an immense contributing talent which seemed to be always overlooked. This insightful history of George gives you an idea of who he was, how he lived his life and what was important to him. Our hats are off to you, Olivia, for sharing your man with us.........and the biggest kudos to you, Uncle Marty, for your ingenoius talent of making celluloid come to life.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted June 20, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    this documentary is awsome! this is a must have for all who love

    this documentary is awsome! this is a must have for all who love music! i still remember the day he passed away it was just like yesterday! i still cry that he is not with us today! he was the best muscian ever! love you george,miss you alot! thanks martin scorsese for doing this!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 3, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews