Last night I watched the documentary Satan & Adam. It resonated with me as a musician, as a rabbi, and quite simply as a human being. The film chronicles the unlikely relationship between two blues musicians who met on a street in Harlem. And much more. Here I’ll simply offer a few personal takeaways.
- Music brings people together. We all know this and it’s just that simple. Music crosses all boundaries and is the truest and most universal human language. The world can be divided along racial, economic, national, or other lines, but music doesn’t care. Music brings people together. When we make music with another, we remind ourselves and others that we’ve all got a common bond.
- Music brings meaning. One of the characters in the film has a nervous breakdown followed by a stroke. For years he didn’t touch his guitar. But through the loving patience of one of the staff of his long-term care facility, he eventually comes back to music. There’s no comparing the two versions of this character– with and without music. Without music there’s no light in his eyes, there’s no reason for his days, there’s no joy.
As a whole, the film was delightful because the story is delightful. It’s a New York story, it’s a blues story, it’s a human story. It’s inspiring, meaningful, and memorable and I encourage others to watch it.
Satan & Adam- Film Review