I was not familiar with the Wu-Tang Clan prior to this screening, and I'm only tangentially interested in hip hop culture, but after seeing this I have respect and awe at how strange and powerful the rap world can be. People love this, and now I see why. More important than turning me onto the music, though, was the film's impression to me of the humanness of rappers. I usually notice only how scary or self-aggrandizing they're trying to be, but we get to see their relationships with their children and friends in Rock the Bells. If you have a chance to see this in a theater, TAKE IT. I laughed harder and longer about this than any comedy flick in recent memory. And I was literally on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happens next. A great movie.

I saw this movie today at the Widwest Independent Film Festival, and I was blown away. The most exciting documentary i've ever seen, not only about hip hop, which isn't really what it was about, but more so just in general, I have yet to this date seen a documentary quite like this one. This will have you in the edge of your seat, guaranteed. Everybody in the audience, rather black, white, latino, Asian, 20 years old to 80 years old, was laughing and crying and leaning forward all throughout the movie. This is truly a historical piece, considering it is the last time Wu Tang Clan ever performed together on stage with all original members... If it were up to me, i'd have this movie release in 4000 locations, but unfortunately, its not. Sage Francis will tell you that in the movie himself.Officially, I give this two thumbs up! Only part I don't like is the fact I only have two thumbs.-Helton Sales Siqueira, aka Brazilionaire

Now here's a f*cking movie. Chang Weisberg is one part devoted hip hop fan, and three parts sh*t talking concert promoter, constantly working everyone, even/especially his sweet wife. And he's got this concert series in California called Rock the Bells. In 2004, Weisberg was organizing a big show in San Bernadino, and once he had a handful of Wu Tang MCs booked, he decided to attempt the impossible, and get all nine official members AND EVEN CAPPADONNA IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT on the same show. The piecemeal way Weisberg went about it became a problem, actually. Despite the groundbreaking way the RZA had the first Wu Tang contract structured — everybody in the group was entirely free to sign solo deals with whatever label they chose — the RZA insists that all things Wu Tang Clan, the collective, go through him. But the RZA came on board, and even ODB was out of prison and seemingly ready and willing. He was of course a complete f*cking wreck, mind you. It's more affecting than you might even think, seeing ODB six months before his death. There's just nothing left of him here. Interestingly, they maintain the absolute fiction that ODB came up on welfare and whatnot. His dad worked for the Transit Authority, and his mom was a police dispatcher. That's solidly middle class. Why perpetrate, ODB? We would have loved you anyway.As we get closer to the date of the show, it starts to look less and less likely this is going to work at all. And the day of is just a complete sh*t storm. Now, unlike you, I foolishly bought Disciples of the 36 Chambers: Chapter 1, the baffling ordeal of a live album and DVD taken from the Rock the Bells performance. So I came into this movie knowing full well that the show went off; that Dirt just sits there on a monitor singing along to the tracks where he really shouldn't, looking like he'll be dead in a week instead of six months on, and then absolutely rips his verses; that there wasn't a riot despite Weisberg's sh*thead decisions to oversell and understaff the whole operation. But the movie is so incredibly tense that I started doubting all of that. Is this maybe a different concert? Wouldn't I know about it if the Wu had played a concert a couple summers ago that ended in a riot? I'd have heard that, right? But sh*t did not look good, friends. MC Supernatural looking out with absolute horror over the crowd when it looked like the Wu might not take the stage almost convinced me that I have some other record.On Supernat: come on, man. He gets his son on, and his ten year-old son's supposedly freestyle flow is absolutely unreal, and Supernat goes, "That's my son! And that's freestyle! He didn't write any of that! And I don't help him with it!" Sure, Supernat. Sure. As Stinkin' Rich said years ago, the line between the freestyle and the premeditated is blurry at best, and crossed more often than you might think. Moving on: aside from Supernatural, whose performance is entirely fine, and who is really very winning throughout the movie, you get performances from Dilated Peoples (not really to my taste, the Dilated Peoples); Chali 2na and DJ Numark (can I just say: for all that I never ever ever listen to my J5 records, their show — sans Cut Chemist, who I believe is now just plain out — at the Kraut in Toronto a couple years ago was fantastic); Eydea and Abilities (hilarity ensues when Abilities' set-ending turntabalism just . . . won't . . . end . . .); the always entertaining Redman; and Sage Francis. I've never seen Sage live, because he didn't once come to Toronto in my five years there, but he came to Halifax in that time, and my brother saw him. I think it was at the Khyber. And he hated that show. Now, my brother has a legitimate beef with the Khyber that I don't necessarily want to get into here, but which made me think maybe he was predisposed not to particularly enjoy his evening there. But I couldn't really account for not just his dislike of the Sage Francis show, but his absolute seething rage at the thing. Having seen Sage perform in Rock the Bells, I know understand completely. Don't get me wrong: I think Sage is great. A Healthy Distrust was a great record, one of my favorite from the year (last year?) that is was released. But never have I seen someone so bait and antagonize his own audience. I won't even try to describe it. It simply must be seen.Saw Rock The Bells at Atlantic Film Festival - from theratio dot organization

"Rock the Bells" plays out with an almost Shakespearean flow, from it's tantalizing rising action, to its satisfyingly refreshing denouement. A documentary that follows Chang, a concert promoter, who aims to assemble one of the best hip hop concerts of all time, "Rock the Bells" achieves what many documentaries are incapable of doing: showing the participants as living, breathing men and women who actually endeavor to accomplish something. It not only documents the final time the entire Wu Tang Clan performed together, but also shows an inside glimpse into their private, and little-mentioned family lives. With its crisp filmaking, excellent producing, and flawless editing, "Rock the Bells" proves itself to be one of the best documentaries, if not films, of the year.