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Review

Enlightening and highly entertaining, this intimate portrait of visionary Beat poet and self-proclaimed "faggot and individualist" Allen Ginsberg seeks to venture beyond his fame and controversy to explore the man who has dedicated his work and life "to ease the pain of living." Through photos and interviews with relatives, friends and Ginsberg himself, the film begins with his influential childhood and follows him to his Greenwich Village days and initial success as a poet (and his friendship with Beat poets Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs). The film also touches upon his anti-Vietnam War activities, and the mellower years which followed.