The uninitiated should be aware that this movie is primarily a Godard film, and thus it is unconventional, yet with patience will yield great results. On the one hand, it is a great film which shows the Stones at work finalizing their famous song, Sympathy for the Devil. This being a Godard film, the action in the film will break to show something seemingly completely unrelated. It is the job of the viewer to harmonize the two and make sense of the message the great director is intending to convey.The following is a rough summary of the film itself. It is not intended to be a spoiler, because, again being a Godard film, it must be experienced and viewed to be fully appreciated. By referring to this rough guide, some sense of the entire film may be made easier.First, there are the opening credits.Then the camera pans to a hand-painted sign which says, I believe, "The Rolling Stones," in anagram.The camera cues to the Stones in rehearsal. Mick Jagger is singing an obvious demo of the lyrics, with the camera panning to Keith Richards, then Bill Wyman, Nicky Hopkins, and Charlie Watts in the background.Cue to a hand painted writing on the screen saying "Hilton Stair," then activity in a hotel room.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal again.Cue to a Scene of a store, the Trenchman.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "Outside Black Novel," showing a someone reading from a book, apparently about black empowerment, in an auto wrecking yard.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "Sights and Sounds," with the letters "SDS" in black letters, the rest in red.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal, the camera using extended panning on each Stone.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "All About Eve," where a reporter with a camera asks questions, some thought-provoking, others silly, to a young woman in a forest.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "Hi FI Ction Science," with the words "ONE" in black letters and the rest in red.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal. The rehearsal breaks abruptly to a person spray-painting a car with the following word-gram: MAORT Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "Hi FI Ction Science." Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal. The song is coming along to its recognizable, familiar sound.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "1 Plus 1 makes 2,"spray-painted on a wall of the wharf, the rhythm tack of Sympathy for the Devil in the background.Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "Black Inside Syntax," where a black interviewee is being asked questions about Black Power and revolution. The interview continues to the auto wrecking yard.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "Changes in SoCIAty." A reference, of course, to the CIA.Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a hand-painted sign which is, this reviewer believes, a cross of two messages, "The Stones," and "On the Beach." There is gunfire and fighting on the beach. Closing credits feature the finished song in the background.As Godard films go, this is more coherent than most. The Sixties, particularly 1968, when Beggars Banquet, the album which opens with Sympathy for the Devil, was being recorded. There were student demonstrations in London and Paris and the United States. These demonstrations were definitely on Godard's mind when he presented the hand painted sign which empathized the letters, "SDS," standing for the Students for a Democratic Society, one of the many student groups existing at that time. They were politically charged times, and the energy and urgency of those times are reflected in the political messages found in the many cues from the Stones rehearsals.The great treat is seeing the Stones in the recording studio. The dynamics of the group can be clearly seen in the portions of the film showing the recording of the song. The Glimmer Twins, Jagger and Richards, had clearly formed a prominent role in the group, and Brian Jones, once the leader of the group, was detached and acted uninvolved in the progression of the song. One of the most talented members of the group, he was clearly on automatic pilot. He died six months after the film was released.The film deserves five stars if not for a glimpse of how the Stones recorded in the studio and is one of the finer Godard films. A must see.

Here's the ridiculous problem with this sad little orphan of Godard's oeuvre: Jean-Luc at first seems to be havin' his way with us, mocking anyone for taking any of their own "political" ranting too seriously, which is fine - I can relate to that. But what does this attitude say about the apparent earnestness of the Stones' as they labor to create that outrageously excellent song? I think those moments of the Bad Boys of Rock n Roll working together like inspired scientists is the real deal, the genuine article. They aren't pretending to be creating, they aren't pantomiming for the camera, they aren't subverting their own creative process. They are just doing it. Very little false reality, it seems, going on during those gripping scenes of the band engaged in something wonderful - as tragic as it is to see Brian Jones deteriorating. So why would Godard keep interrupting these sublime moments? Why does he disrupt this "sacred" ritual with his own "profane" parody? Or, is it that in celebrating radical revolutionary thought and activity - by way of his self conscious cinematic method - he is expressing kinship with the spirit of the Stones? Could be, but he can't have it both ways. Anyone familiar with Godard, however, is aware of his well stated revolutionary beliefs, so, ultimately there's little doubt as to what position he endorses, so why this ambiguity, these contradictory signals? This ambiguity only undermines whatever position he might be endorsing. His "philosophy", in this instance, is intrusive and self diminishing, as opposed to the expansive revelatory magic of the Stone's performance. In short, he's confused and this "film" is a mess. A classic case of the Radical Philosopher shooting himself in the foot (or ass, or head). Ah, the perils of a revolutionary.Thanks to digital technology now we can all be creative film editors. With astounding ease I could re-cut this unfortunate disaster and make it a brief but thrilling peak into the Stone's Laboratory as they assemble one of rock's all time amazing monsters. And what to do with all the mock radical philosophical rantings? Off with its head! I give the Stones portion 10 out of 10, and the rest 0 out of 10.

"Sympathy for the Devil" is an excellent time capsule of the late 60s, and it's also a little cinematic gem. It's still actual today and the questions it poses were still not answered.The Stones are filmed rehearsing "Sympathy for the Devil" - the song is shown evolving from the raw draft to the accomplished end. Godard manages to show the Stones and their crew very much at ease. It's fascinating! Mick Jagger can be said to be the master of ceremonies that leads the show. Even for those that don't like the Rolling Stones it is very interesting to see how, slowly, the song becomes richer in sounds and nuances, till the band have managed to achieve what they wanted - the Stones are very satisfied and they groove."Sympathy for the Devil" is a song suited for what Godard wants to say - it tells the story of a gentleman (let me introduce myself. Im a man of wealth and taste). He has seen it all (I was around when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain), lived it all, understood it all. Crucifixion, revolution, war, prison etc.. Now he's singing this song to say something to the world. Maybe the Devil is God in exile (or the other way round).Godard mixes the Stones rehearsing "Sympathy for the Devil" with other episodes.1) A black revolutionary group in a car cemetery planning the revolution, checking their guns. Three white women wearing white dresses are led in at gunpoint (vestal virgins?) to be sacrificed for the revolution. Philosophy, revolutionary goals, anger, desires and hope. This is one of the episodes. One of the many faces of revolution.2) Anne Wiazemsky, wearing a light yellow dress, is interviewed in a kind of forest park. All she answers is Yes or No (the interviewer himself answers all the questions he asks). Through one of her answers we learn that her Name is Eve. All About Eve - another symbol.3) A magazine stand that sells magazines and pocket-books with lurid covers, where the owner delivers a very weird fascist speech. All the customers that buy something have still the right to slap two hippies that shout progressive slogans. The customers before leaving the store give the fascist salute.Sometimes there's also a voice in off making the silliest comments about world political leaders, describing their sexual romps etc..Take the Stones rehearsing again and again "Sympathy for the Devil" (the song's words serving as a commentary on the other episodes, and the other way round); mix it all together and you'll get an interesting portrait of the spirit of 68 . The times were changing fast, the hopes were high, and fear was present too. You can't take Godard completely seriously (he likes to make fun of everything, even the things he believes in), but he shows himself in "Sympathy for the Devil" as a sensitive and open-minded intellectual, conscious of his own limitations but in harmony with the times. He saw what was happening around him and wanted to take part in it. How? Simple! The only way he knew. To make a film. Sympathy for the Devil.The end of the film is an allegory. Revolution on the beach, shots, blood, his film crew.... A red and a black flag - both waving in the wind. Where is the yellow submarine?

The 5 marks are for the Stones, caught candidly in the studio creating their definitive anthem "Sympathy for the Devil". Nothing out of ten for the pretentious rants and downright weird concoctions of the director presumably to juxtapose the rebellious anti - establishment stance of the Stones with such movements as the Black Panther and other anarchic cultural thinkers of the times. These vignettes, for want of a better word, with overlapping dialogue, slow moving camera - panning and confusing symbolism - from the dreary ranting monologues by the wrecking crew black brotherhood, over two white woman lying on the ground in blood - spattered dresses, to weird scenes in a small bookshop involving the customers seig-heiling the owner / ranter in between interminable close-ups of adult books on the wall, a politically banal yes / no interview with Eve Democracy - honestly, I'm getting bored just typing this stuff... That said, Godard fails even to capture the Stones properly, the camera again dawdling its way round the studio, focusing on nothing in particular, frequently leaving the main shot as the back of someone's head or languishing for minutes as the boys lounge around between takes. He even fails to emphasise the pivotal change in the song lyric from "Who killed Kennedy" to "the Kennedys" in the wake of the Bobby Kennedy assassination which occurred whilst the song was being put together. Stones fans like me will have to make do with the scraps that Godard throws at us. A pox on him for subsuming them to his pseudo existentialist / anarchic posturing. Thank God for the fast forward button.