Magic Trip

Throughout its history the CIA has been involved in some pretty dubious activities such as those in Laos during the '60s and '70s, as shown in the 2008 documentary The Most Secret Place on Earth, which went some way to earning it the alternative name of Cocaine Import Agency. However, the one that probably had the biggest impact on contemporary society, and the complete opposite of their intentions was their experiments with LSD. The CIA wanted to use LSD for mind control, as shown in The Shock Doctrine, but as we know it turned out quite differently, and at the forefront of the acid movement was Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which was inspired by one of Kesey’s early acid trips.

In 1969, Tom Wolfe published his New Journalism book, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, an account of Kesey and the Merry Pranksters’ journey across the US in an old school bus, driven by Neal Cassady, of On the Road fame. Even though Wolfe wasn’t “on the bus”, his account captured the spirit of their adventure and their trips, physical and otherwise. In the book there is a lot of talk about the film the Pranksters were making along the way, all shot on on 16mm film by a bunch of amateur filmmakers out of the gourds on pure acid. The Magic Trip is all that footage, collected together and put into some sort of coherent order by Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, which is no mean effort.

This film is a vital part of our (counter) cultural history. Apart from Kesey and Cassady, the film includes other icons of the era including Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (aka Ram Das), Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Jerry Garcia and his band before they became the Grateful Dead. It also has a great animated interpretation of Kesey’s first acid trip, which includes the recording of his experiences that was part of the initial experiments he partook in.

Most of the film’s appeal will be to old hippies, acid heads and fans of Wolfe’s book, and Kesey of course. The quality of the footage, for the most part, is superb, all things considered, as is Stanley Tucci’s narration. The fact that it even exists at all is amazing. If you want to see a true account of one of the defining moments of contemporary history that led to what became known as the Woodstock generation, then you should get on the bus down to the Curzon Soho to see it.