A new rock doc puts the spotlight on The White Stripes

Under Great White Northern Lights offers intimate and rare glimpses of the duo from Detroit

In the summer of 2007, with Venus and Saturn in celestial conjunction, the White Stripes embarked on a trailblazing tour in support of their sixth album, Icky Thump (Third Man/Warner Bros.) The Detroit duo ventured to Canada with the goal of bringing their music to every far flung province and territory in the country.

The music video for "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)," filmed in the desolate artic beach of Iqaluit, offers the first glimpse into the raw beauty of the White Stripes new tour documentary Under Great White Northern Lights. Director Emmett Malloy returned behind the lens to capture Meg White and Jack White after previously exploring the band’s aesthetic in videos for "My Doorbell" and "Icky Thump."

Distinguishing this film from other rock docs is the display of uninhibited joy and humanity between the band and their fans, juxtaposed against a wild and lonely landscape. Rather than focusing on the typical rigors of touring, viewers are welcomed in. Performances are diverse and locations are unexpected: a one note show in front of a flour mill; a song on a fishing boat; a rockin’ performance in a bowling alley; an energetic, audience-fueled rendition of "Wheels on the Bus" on a bus and in a children’s center. The most touching impromptu show was at a community center with tribal elders where Jack played a blues ditty by Blind Willie McTell in exchange for one of the tribe’s traditional songs.

Shooting with multiple cameras, mostly on 16mm black and white film, the documentary was imbued with the starkness of a limited color palette and, fittingly, with prominent red hues. Although the film documents the 10th anniversary of the band, Malloy had no real story arc in mind. And while his film ultimately offers intimacy, the band's mystique remains intact.

By capturing spontaneous and fleeting moments, Malloy reveals certain truths about the band. Stripped to basic elements, the film includes little to distract from its subjects. Jack speaks candidly about the work that goes into the White Stripes, comparing it his former job as an apprentice upholsterer. For him, the band is a matter of working from a self-imposed box, which we observe in the White Stripes’ signature color palette, chord structures, and reductive instrumentation.

Meg, predictably, utters very little, allowing Jack be the showman. The film is not as rigid as one might expect from the White Stripes’ adherence to principles of the Dutch De Stijl movement. Instead, Under Great White Northern Lights is a simple, direct, and lasting statement about a band, enhanced by an organic quality of filmmaking.

In the film, Jack revels at being called "the most real and the most fake band." But there is no need to expose the personal lives of a band in order to feel the chemistry behind the music. The film’s final sequence captures a tender moment between the pair. Sitting at a piano, Jack plays "White Moon," bringing Meg to tears. Although the White Stripes may have gained success by evading the true nature of their relationship — through this glimpse into their life on the road, we realize that all that really matters is what they created together, sitting in a little room, working on something good.

This article is originally published in Venus Zine Music Magazine Learn More:

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