Across The Universe

Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymore, released in America on October 9th, 2007, was an inspiring, unique cult classic. It it a beautifully filmed story line, weaving its way around classic Beatles songs. This movie is almost like a sing-along.

It begins with Jude (Jim Strugess) sitting alone on a beach. It starts with the song "Girl", a slow, almost taunting tune, and instantly clashes with the infamous song "Helter Skelter", while depicting a protesting scene, involving Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). As the movie progresses, you see deep into each characters lives and how different 1960s life in Liverpool was to Middle America. Jude, a young, ambitious Brit, travels to America to find his father, who abandoned his mother right after she found out she was pregnant. He finds his father, and comes to find out he's a Janitor at Princeton University. While venturing thought Princeton, he finds Max (Joe Anderson). Max is a rebel, silly and not very serious.

They instantly become best friends and are inseparable. Lucy is Max's little sister. Lucy's beloved boyfriend had just died doing something heroic in Vietnam. The triplet come together after Thanksgiving, where Max tells his family he's dropping out of college. They go bowling and Jude becomes smitten with Lucy. After they all move to New York things change for good. First they meet Sadie (Dana Fuchs), a talented singer, and a "fox", closely followed by Prudence (TV Carpio), a lesbian girl who got abused by her neighbor, and JoJo (Martin Luther), a African American guitarist whose son died in the war. They all get hooked up with a peace core, and they meet Dr. Robert (Bono), and he takes them on a wild trip to somewhere in the west, where he leaves them. There they meet Mr. Kite, an insane circus conductor man, and they go through a wild show. They later return to New York.

They are strong enough to get through the usual hardships of life... Lies, Love, Trust, Jealously, but one thing will tear them apart completely: War. Max gets drafted and Lucy will do anything to try and help the revolution. Max wants his best friend back too but realizes that protesting is dangerous. He knows that radicalists will stop at nothing to try and fight the government and he doesn't want Lucy arrested, or worse, dead.

She is meanwhile working with a group of Extremists, whose leader is named Paco. Paco is a radicalist and is planning to try violence to stop the war. Jude's trying to figure out a job he has, to find a symbol for Sadie's record company. He's a talented artist, but can't get any inspiration. He tries an apple, a cut up apple, but after Lucy and Paco come in and disturb him, he goes into another room and this is the beginning to the most famous and beautifully done scene in the entire movie. Jude begins pinning strawberries to a wall, while their juice drips down, resembling blood. At this point, he begins to sing the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" and later it switches, and Max begins singing it, while he's in in intense battle scene in war, getting shot at, and some of his war friends die around him.

Jude, at one point, comes bursting into the activists meeting building and makes quite a scene, singing the song "Revolution". "You say you want a revolution, well you know we all want to change the world.You tell me that it's evaluation, well you know, we all want to change the world. But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out?", he screams as he attempts to beat up Paco and tell Lucy what he feels. After this scene, Lucy leaves him, which breaks Jude's heart.

Jude later sees Lucy getting arrested at a Rally. He tries to save her, but ends up getting arrested himself. They drop sentences for the riot but he gets deported from the country. He returns to England to find his old girlfriend married to his old best friend and later he is drinking in a pub, and Max is in a pub in America, and he begins sing the hit song "Hey Jude", which Jude can somehow hear in the back of his mind. It convinces him to return to America, so he does. In the final scene, he and Max race up to the top of a building, where Sadie's band is illegally playing a concert.

They finish and Jude hides. The police force everyone else down, but Jude, alone, walks up to the microphone. He begins to sing the classic, cleverly written song "All You Need Is Love" accapello. He gets Lucy's attention, who was walking away on the street, and she turns around. As does everyone else. Lucy tries to run up to the top but the police stop her so she runs to the top of the next building. Sadie and Jojo start to sing it so Jude steps off and sees Lucy. It ends with them, across buildings, smiling at each other.

This movie is rated PG13, and has some nudity and language.