U2: Achtung Baby (1992) (V)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Directors:

Anton Corbijn
Mark Pellington

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot Keywords:

U2 | Live | Concert Film | Pop Music | Number In Title

Cast

Bono	...	Vocals
The Edge	...	Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Adam Clayton	...	Bass
Larry Mullen Jr.	...	Drums

Also Known As:

U2: Achtung Baby, the Videos, the Cameos and a Whole Lot of Interference from ZOO-TV (USA)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA | UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Unrated

Soundtrack:

The Fly

A fantastic companion piece to the album.

This is a collection of videos made for Achtung Baby which are intercut with little bits of interviews and random footage, what the tape refers to as "interference". Let's look at it clip by clip.

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" has the band (with Bono dressed as "The Fly") playing in a warehouse as the camera rotates around each member or behind glass with a small horde of people looking in. During the bridge of the song there is a montage that represents channel surfing, virtual reality and media overload. There are also a few shots of the band members being groped by a group of people under ultraviolet light as well as shots of rock icon wax statues from Madame Tussaud's famed wax museum.

"Mysterious Ways" is a fantastic video, directed by Stephane Sednaoui. It is a psychedelic clip of the band hanging out in Morocco that features lots of kaleidoscopic camera effects. Check out Bono's pink tuxedo shirt.

"One" (Version 1) is Anton Corbijn's take on the song. It's comprised of sepia-tinted black and white footage of the band recording/rehearsing in Hansa Studios in Berlin where AB was made, and the band members running around Berlin in drag.

"The Fly" has the band playing in a dark room lit by TV monitors like those that would be used on the ZooTV tour. Bono is of course dressed to the nines in his famous "Fly" outfit as he oozes with "Fly"-like charm.

At this point, the tape suddenly appears to be over and credits start flashing on the screen. I have no idea why it was made like that because the videos just resume after the credits.

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" (Dance Mix) is basically a montage of leftover shots from the Morocco trip, some of the ultraviolet and "Fly" sequences from the other "Even Better..." video, and footage of the band hanging out with some belly dancers and drag queens.

"One" (Version 2) is Mark Pellington's take on the song. It's a beautiful video, filled with images of flowers in bloom and bison running through a field and then over a cliff as the song's title appears on the screen in several different languages.

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" is another take on the video, this time using some very nice collage effects with photographic or film images of the band members juxtaposed with printed words and images.

"One" (Version 3) is Phil Joanou's take on the song and probably the most well known of the 3 videos. This is the one with the band hanging out in a club and the gratuitous closeups of Bono (purr).

"Until The End of The World" is the last video on the tape. It juxtaposes psychedelic infrared camera shots with grainy super-8 closeups of Bono (who is looking very enticing) as well as shirtless Adam and Larry, and The Edge wrapped in saran wrap.