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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe a bit too broad, but I liked it, September 7, 2008
This documentary attempts to cover the rise of German electronic and experimental music from the 1960s, centered on Kraftwerk. There are perhaps two documentaries here: one an overview of the career of Kraftwerk, and the other the development of native German music. I found the latter more interesting, but I enjoyed it all.
If your interest is just in Kraftwerk, you may not get enough out of this to justify the time. If you are mostly unfamiliar with German music from the '60s, picking it up, as I did, with Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream and Neu! in the '70s, then you may find the first hour as interesting as I did.
It's definitely worth the money, and it's on DVD, so you don't have to watch it all at once.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too bloated, only for novices, September 6, 2008
I suppose any stab at making a Kraftwerk documentary should raise interest given what little is known about the band personally. What I found the most entertaining was the interview with Karl Bartos since he actually had some influence and co-wrote several Kraftwerk tracks. Some of the archive footage of the bands featured are also fun to watch. Most of the interviews are with writers and journalists which grow tired and a bit boring for my tastes....lots of old men mumbling into the camera and looking bored if you know what I mean.
The documentary is three hours, and while I rarely complain about length with such a fascinating subject, the film simply runs too long. There are endless opinions and rambling soliloquies within the interviews that had me fast-forwarding more often than I would have liked. I simply don't care what random music journalists think about the Kraftwerk sound, and the film would have been much better if the editors cut out the blathering. The film doesn't really deal with Kraftwerk that much either. It trails off and discusses other artists far too much for its own good. I understand that the title of the film is "Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution", but the title still manages to be misleading. It may be my own fault as I already know a great deal about electronic music history in general, so I would mildly recommend this DVD to those who don't have much knowledge about Kraftwerk or their music. If you are like me, though, and already have all the Kraftwerk albums and dedicate yourself to experiencing electronic/experimental music regularly, I certainly would urge you to pass on this DVD.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
this dvd is killer!, November 12, 2008
The art rock scene that exploded in the early 80's & even in the late 70's owes a HUGE wealth of debt to Kraftwerk..they were a band that wasn't all about loud guitars & songs about debauchery...they played weird, often times odd music with off the wall timings, unique instrumentation, & there was an entire scene of bands that came out when Kraftwerk did that paved the way for this entire genre of electronic music...in all honesty, I think Trent Reznor wouldn't be the same man he is today without this genre! This dvd tells the story of this scene, the bands, the fans, & it's a great look at a forgotten genre & forgotten scene that never really got it's recognition from the mainstream...the dvd drags on a little at times, but overall, it's a great reference point to learn about Kraftwerk & the early electronic music revolution that paved the way for the Industrial rock scene that would follow many years later.
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DVD ~ Tony Wilson
~ Various Artists
by Pascal Bussy
~ Kraftwerk
DVD ~ Samantha Morton
