Shine a Light

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Veteran rockers the Rolling Stones perform some of their most familiar songs as well as lesser-known original numbers and cover material in the high-energy documentary "Shine A Light" (Paramount Classics/Shangri-La/CPI). The film captures parts of two performances by the age-defying quartet of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood at New York City's Beacon Theatre in fall 2006.

Nearly 45 years after the band's formation, and at a stage in life when most people think about moving to the Sun Belt, Jagger struts, grimaces and grooves with all his trademark manic energy. Only the avuncular Watts gives any indication of the toll the band's long, hard-driving sessions exact.

Director Martin Scorsese, whose affinity for capturing rock bands on film dates back to his work as an assistant director and editor on 1970's "Woodstock," deploys 19 camera operators to create a fluid, consistently on-target visual record of the concerts, one of them a fund-raiser for former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation. Clinton introduces the band with the whimsical claim that he's opening for them.

Songs range in mood from the heart-pounding 1981 hit "Start Me Up" to the meditative 1964 ballad "As Tears Go By," said to be the first song Jagger and Richards ever wrote together and one which they seldom perform. Featured guests include singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera, bluesman Buddy Guy and White Stripes vocalist Jack White.

In addition to the music, there are amusingly chaotic pre-production scenes and clips of old interviews, some by now thoroughly ironic. One snippet, from the British television series "World In Action," shows Jagger, freshly released from a 1967 drug charge, incongruously sitting down with establishment figures, among them a Jesuit priest.

While Christianity of the broadcasting evangelical variety is mocked in the lyrics of Jagger and Richards' "Far Away Eyes," the titular tune, played over the credits, invokes the blessings of "the Good Lord," apparently in tribute to deceased Stones guitarist Brian Jones. Other selections reflect a lifestyle not much given to temperance.

The film contains occasional rough and crude language, drug references and irreverent and suggestive lyrics. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops