This Is Spinal Tap is a ridiculous documentary. Directed by Rob Reiner, it is composed of a multitude of well-cast actors, such as Fran Drescher, Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer. The film itself was designed to mock rock bands, focused mainly on the 1980's, with some bashing on the rock bands in the 1960s. It took a humerous take on the downsides of band management, miscommunication, and the rise to fame. Nigel, the lead guitarist for the band, is continuously letting the fame get to his head. He bickers about not getting his way, such as eating sandwiches with the bread cut too small or the fact that St. Hubbins's girlfriend, Jeanine, decides to become the new manager when their manager quits. Nigel leaves the band but then appears later on stage because he had to have more of the fame and couldn't leave his friends. This movie is based on a fictional band, but slowly mortalized it into a tangible, "semi-fictional" band, creating two more albums after the release of the movie. To listen to more of their music, here's some from their second album, Break Like the Wind.
One humerous part of the film was when the band members were discussing how their drummers continuously die strange, uncommon deaths.
Eight years after the release of the film, they held auditions for a new drummer. A filming of these auditions was released on MTV in 1992. Some of the criterion for the new drummer were "no living relatives," "no immediate family," and "can count to four" (2:10-15), to name a few. The lightheartedness of the film also left an ominous. dark truth: rock bands are slowly deteriorating due to the harshness of reality. Fame tears a person down, and drugs, spirits, and the pressure of society added on to that can lead to a musician's death.. or in this case, many drummers' deaths.
After watching Restrepo, I was deeply affected by watching these soldiers dedicating their lives to their service in the military. It's hard to believe how often people take for granted how fortunate they are to live in a free country. The film focuses on the Second Platoon stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. They lose so many men, and even name one of their outposts after a fallen soldier, Restrepo. This documentary, directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, provided an apt illustration of the amount of sacrifice made by our soldiers on a regular basis. By providing the live footage of the soldiers returning fire, I was able to see the amount of fear and courage that these men undergo each day to protect us and our country. One instance depicting their strength and dedication is when the Second Platoon found out about the tragedy at one of their sister companies. The other company had lost 9 soldiers, 12 US people were wounded, and 13 aids were wounded. As one of the lieutenants tells his troop about this, he tells them to mourn them and then get over it. They needed to stay level-headed and focused. He then asks if anyone came in not knowing they'd be injured or killed. No one responded. That much dedication from each and every soldier, and then combined into a group, makes me thankful for all their hard work. It's bittersweet hearing about people I know go off to war, but it's their passion and they're going into it so that they can protect us. This film definitely did a fine job in projecting the bitter, but encouraging, viewpoint of our soldiers. The war is gruesome, but our soldiers are fighting to protect our country so that they can come home and we can all live in peace.
Junger and Hetherington braved Afghanistan to gain the incredible footage that they got. After Hetherington was killed by a mortar blast, Junger started the RISC organization (Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues). To learn more about what RISC is and how reporters can be saved, visit here:
