Beware of Mr Baker
Dir: Jay Bulger
2012
*****
A really refreshing documentary. When they make a documentary of someone whose dead, they usually say nice things but are also in a position to say bad things because the dead can't defend themselves. Well Ginger Baker isn't dead (somehow) and people are pulling no punches about how they feel about him. It's not all nice. The archive of clips of him are brilliantly put together, as are the talking heads from some of the most prolific musicians of all time. Both are intertwined with some interesting animation that works most of the time. The interview with Ginger himself is the most compelling, mostly because of what he doesn't say. There is no doubt that he is the best drummer that there has ever been, I saw him in 2011 after my Dad had told me stories of seeing him in the 60's. My Dad saw him with me and said that he still had the same energy all those years later. Steve Winwood actually joined him onstage too which was a bit of a treat but Eric Clapton didn't because, as Ginger put it; "He was going to come but he's having gallstones removed cos he's an old bastard". How do you end a documentary about the worlds most rock and roll drummer in the world? You don't, he does, by breaking the interviewer's nose. Yes, really! A brilliant Doc and a real must see!!