Long Way Home

Apted, M. (Director). Caird, R., et al. (Producers). (1989). The Long Way Home: Remastered and Expanded. Video Project. 98 mins. In 1987, leaders of the Soviet Union loosened restrictions on artists and performers. Bands that were previously only playing surreptitious underground concerts now could play freely in public to large crowds. The biggest of these bands was Aquarium. Its founder and leader, Boris Grebenshchikov, was a superstar in the country. American managers were able to get the band a recording contract with CBS Records and perform in the West, the first time musicians had been able to leave freely to play elsewhere and not be subject to Soviet censorship. Director Michael Apted, skilled at handling both narrative features (Coal Miner's Daughter) and documentaries (the Up series) was hired to document the band's visit to the West, as well as its life in the Soviet Union. The resulting documentary aired on Granada Television in Britain in 1989 and was subsequently released on VHS, but had been unavailable for many years. Then in 2024, the film's producer, Steven Lawrence, decided to revisit the project. (Apted had died in 2021.) Working with editor Susanne Rostock, he shot additional footage and had the original film remastered from the only existing print. The Long Way Home is now once again available in this remastered and expanded form. Much of the footage is conventional material for a rock doc. Band members argue about the songs during recording and complain about not being able to see their family because of time on the road. Grebenshchikov, who speaks English well, is often heard talking directly to the camera. Aquarium had an unusual instrumentation for a rock band, including flute, violin, and cello. When producer Dave Stewart, known for his work with Eurhythmics, joined the recording sessions, he brought a little harder edge to the songs. Although the album did not sell well in the U.S., when Aquarium returned to the Soviet Union, their popularity was undimmed. Fans maintained their enthusiasm even when Grebenshchikov was singing the songs he wrote in English. It was a triumphant note for the original movie to end on, but then comes the epilogue, shot nearly 40 years later. Aquarium has broken up and Grebenshchikov now sports a heavy beard. His new band focused more on aspects of Russian folk music, but was still popular. Then Grebenshchikov criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine and was looking at a jail sentence. He left for Western Europe and has not returned. He maintains a career as a performer, now often playing to other Russian expatriates. The documentary is a minor work overall, but does fill in a missing piece of the Apted filmography and documents an interesting footnote in rock music history. It is recommended for large collections in popular music and/or Russian studies.