Bob Dylan: No Direction Home - Arena: Part 2

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Martin Scorsese

Bob Dylan

Anthony Wall

Jeff Rosen

Susan Lacy

Nigel Sinclair

Arena: Bob Dylan: No Direction Home: Part 2

Part 1 Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

BBC Four - Arena, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, Part 2

Dylan finds a new musical vocabulary to capture the seismic cultural shift of the mid-60s.

Martin Scorsese continues to explore Bob Dylan's early career. At 23, Dylan confounds expectations and finds a new musical vocabulary to capture the seismic cultural shift.

Martin Scorsese continues to explore the emotional, musical and intellectual journey of Bob Dylan's early career. The story turns dark. At 23, Dylan is already a newsworthy phenomenon and with that success comes expectations - from the old left to become a political activist, and from the media to articulate the concerns of America's youth. It's a role in which Dylan is completely uninterested. He is already on the move, finding a new musical vocabulary to capture the complexity of a seismic cultural shift. He injects a heightened sense of poetry into his writing and adds electricity to his music, electricity that now seems inevitable but at the time saw him labelled a sell-out and a traitor. 

Scorsese delicately balances Dylan's internal world with signpost images from the external world. Dylan's music is the backdrop as the war in Vietnam escalates and the nightly news brings home images people would never have dreamed of seeing on their television sets. Scorsese takes the time to let viewers really see the music unfold in revelatory concert performances. 

By 1966 Dylan's personal world has become one of constant touring and press conferences. By the end of the film it is plainly obvious that for Dylan there are some journeys from which there is No Direction Home.

Arena: Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

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The story of the early part of Bob Dylan's career, directed by Martin Scorsese

The story of Bob Dylan, directed by Martin Scorsese, from a rock 'n' roll loving kid in the Midwest to his arrival as a major force in the world of folk music

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