The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

The White Stripes crossed Canada end to end in 2007. Alongside the usual halls they played on a bus, in a coffee house and in front of Indigenous community elders. Emmett Malloy followed the tour throughout; both the band on stage and the quiet hours in between are in the film. The group is no more than two people: Jack White on guitar and voice, Meg White on drums. The film moves between black and white and colour sections, and in the colour ones the three shades the band chose for itself dominate: red, white and black. The real subject of the documentary is not the music but the relationship between the two. Jack talks and is always out front; Meg says almost nothing. They had been married for a time and kept it hidden for years, saying they were siblings. The piano scene at the end plays differently now that the band broke up a few years later.