Cinematical

In the year since the release of their (and oh, how this term makes me cringe) "rock opera" American Idiot, Green Day have been pumping a steady stream of anti-Bush, anti-war nuggets into popular culture. Not only have they been getting away with incredibly incendiary feats of provocation, but it's almost like nobody who should be mad about it even knows it's happening. They've sold a ton of records, but if they're trying to have a real ideological impact, they may be losing the (pun intended) war.

Maybe that frustration is the driving force behind the clip for Wake Me Up When September Ends, which, according to this triumphant press release from Green Day's record company, hit number one on MTV's TRL this week. Directed by Samuel Bayer (he made Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, as well as all of the other videos from this Green Day album), the seven-minute mini-film stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell as two young all-American lovers, seperated when he joins the army. You can watch it at Crooks and Liars, a political blog with tons of video footage. Considered as a short film, I think in its own way it's one of the most powerful and interesting things I've seen in a while.


 
The video opens in full-on Degrassi mode, with Wood and Bell, kissing admidst tall grass in an empty field, promising to stay together forever. It continues through the first minute or so of the song as a sun-drenched ode to teen love -- but there are these ominous close-ups of Billy Joe, his eyes dark sockets ringed with kohl, foreshadowing something very not-right.

Wood flies through a screen door and the music stops short; in hysterics, she slaps Wood and, almost incoherent through tears, accuses him of betraying her love. He explodes: "I did this for us! I thought, of all people, you would understand why I did this!" The song kicks back into gear, and it's not hard to see what's about to happen: Bell is going off to war.

It's heavy-handed in its "we're sending our teenagers off to die" thesis, and the battle scenes to come are so heavily choreographed that they could almost be swapped out for outtakes from West Side Story. But when the sound-effects kick in -- and the bomb bursts are loud, threatening to turn the song into incidental music -- something clicks into place. We see a lot more of Green Day themselves in the video's second half.

Deadly (and relatively newly -- these are the same guys, you'll remember, who became stars at age 19 singing about getting stoned and jacking off) serious, glowering under rock-star pyrotechnics that clearly mirror the shell-spray Bell slo-mo evades, Billie Joe's straight on gaze dares you to look away. The acting all around is sort of stunning (especially from Wood, who, I'm now convinced, is a genius) but also from Billie Joe. This is actually the one song on American Idiot that doesn't really fit into the album's overall theme -- it's about the death of Billie Joe's own father, and that makes it a doubly interesting choice for a full-on political assault weapon, and a sign of Billie Joe's resolute commitment to Green Day's cause. He's really grown into the role of frontman, and now that the band actually has something to say, he's absolutely fierce.

It's certainly the most directly political move the band has made yet. At a time when they could be cranking out novelty hits and/or dueting with rappers, Green Day are finally doing what punk rock was always meant to do: they're raising their guitars as guns in a militant (but obstinately non-violent) attack on dominant culture. And with this particular plot, they're bringing their politics straight to their constituent. This kind of action is simply not happening in Hollywood. Is this not the ballsiest left-wing media event of the year?