Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten is Julien Temple’s documentary about the great man. It is definitely not a documentary about The Clash, which is why they are only one element in the film. It has almost too much information, covering everything from his childhood (as a son of a diplomat), through his squatter art-school drop out phase, to his forgettable acting work, and his final band, The Mescaleros. Let’s face it, it is as lead singer of The Clash that everyone loves and remembers him.

The documentary features some excellent concert footage where the raw energy of the music screams out of the screen. It makes you want to be there. The over-produced pop of today seems sterile and safe in comparison. The film also contains a voice over interview with Joe Strummer plus interviews staged at campfires as friends and protégés share their memories. Strummer may well have organised many of these campfires as he loved their spiritualism and symbolism, but it’s all pretty naff and girl guides-like as they whip out their guitars for a jolly sing-song. There are no titles telling us who these people are, so if nothing else, you could play spot the celeb until the end credits remove the guesswork. Some of the former Clash members and those close to him personally have interesting tales to tell, but do we really need the ubiquitous Bono in his dark glasses ripping off Bill Shankly quotes?

Joe Strummer was born of punk, and asks to be described as a punk warlord (“With ‘warlord’ being one word”), but he is erudite and educated. He says, “I always was a mouthy little git” while others give a more favourable interpretation, claiming his lyrics were often like a history book and an atlas rolled into one. For kids who didn’t read the papers, he informed them of what was going on in the world and made them politically aware. Temple reminds us that he is conscious of the contemporary zeitgeist and he throws in excerpts from the films of Animal Farm and 1984.

The image that emerges of Strummer is as a middle class rebel, never happier than when he had something to rage against. He was, “Instantly charismatic but bloody impossible to live with.” Idealistic and charming, he appears as an infuriating pain whom you couldn’t help but admire. Eventually he became a victim of his own success and disbanded The Clash after breaking America – the death knell for any self-respecting angry young band.

This is a slightly confused documentary, as Temple wants to pay homage to all facets of Joe Strummer’s life, but it is his music that resonates. The film begins with ‘White Riot’, and when you hear the vocal in isolation, it proves that being a good singer isn’t about being note perfect. There are highs and lows. Temple has tried to even these out by covering all aspects, but more distance and objectivity would have made a much better record.—Kate Blackhurst