The tale of the Grateful Dead is inspiring, complicated, and
downright messy. A tribe of contrarians, they made art out of open-ended
chaos and inadvertently achieved success on their own terms.
Long Strange Trip is the first full-length documentary to explore the
fiercely independent vision, perpetual innovation, and uncompromising
commitment to their audience that made the Bay Area band one of the most
influential musical groups of their generation. Artfully assembling
candid interviews with the band, road crew, family members and notable
Deadheads, Bar-Lev reveals the untold history of the Dead and the
freewheeling psychedelic subculture that sprouted up around it. The film
also provides poignant insight into the psyche of late lead guitarist
Jerry Garcia, whose disdain for authority clashed with his de facto
leadership of the sprawling collective that kept the show on the road.