Eddie Vedder

01/11/12 10:51 Filed in: Inside Look

Written by Stephen Vittoria
(Los Angeles)

Like every other creative endeavor on the planet, music is very subjective. So subjective, in fact, that as a filmmaker you have to trust your instincts, your vision (which is blurry a lot as you make a film, especially one you care so goddamn much about). “What do I wanna hear at this point? What makes this cue kick ass?” Some folks are going to say, “Wow, that blew me away.” And others are going to say, “What the hell were you thinking?”

Enter Eddie Vedder.

Now, Eddie can sing the Canoga Park phone book and I’ll listen with a smile on my soul… so when it came to selecting the final song for the film – the song that would take Mumia home – the first place I started listening was Pearl Jam… and I think if 100 filmmakers decided to make “Long Distance Revolutionary” and came to this point, one of us – me – would be looking at Pearl Jam. I knew Rage Against The Machine would rock the house and they have some great pieces; and I knew Immortal Technique, and Tom Morello, and M-1, along with a host of other rappers, maybe even some R&B and Motown folks – I knew that each and every one of them would truly grace the film with their art, with their power, with their passionate voice that also resisted empire and hatred – a mirror of Mumia. So I get that. It’s obvious. But it’s not what was right for the film at that moment.

Because at that moment we realize that the story of this long distance revolutionary is about love. Plain and simple, it’s about love. The editor of City Lights Books, Greg Ruggiero, sums it up this way in the film: “I think Mumia would agree with what Che said: "At the risk of sounding ridiculous, a revolutionary is guided by feelings of love and for love of the people.” Once again…

Enter Eddie Vedder.

Because for a film that rages hard like this film rages, in the end it lands soft. It lands with love… and that happens naturally because Mumia’s rage against the machine doesn’t stem from anger. Not even close. It stems from love. Like Greg says, “love of the people.” And so “Society,” written by Jerry Hannan and recorded by Eddie Vedder, is a soulful song, it’s a beautiful song. And I wanted the film to end with a song that sounded like Mumia… what would his soul sound like if we heard it as music? For me, it was about capturing a man at peace with himself in one of the worst places on Earth. At peace because he’s right, because his fight has always been right…

Society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Here’s a clip of Eddie Vedder singing “Society” live.