The Clash were influenced by leftist ideals, and their lyrics reflected those beliefs. Never advocates of anarchy or other punk ethos, The Clash eventually embraced their rather un-punk like status.

Epic Records A&R director dubbed them "the only band that matters,” their most famous record comes in at number eight on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list and they experimented with more styles of music than Outkast.

The Sex Pistols, by default, were the most influential punk group in history. The Clash, however, were certainly the most diverse and almost without question, the greatest punk group. At the heart of The Clash was guitarist, singer and songwriter Joe Strummer, who, along with Mick Jones, created one of music’s most beloved songbooks.

The Clash experimented with styles of music in the same way that Prince does, leading many critics and fans to cease calling them a punk group. However, The Clash is now simply referred to as one the most influential musical groups of all time.

Much like Outkast cannot really be categorized as rap, The Clash cannot really be classified as punk rock. The term punk rock brings up images no-talent hacks aimlessly pounding on their instruments, screaming at society and dying their hair pink.

Where The Six Pistols advocated anarchy and had a rather nihilistic view of life, the members of The Clash were influenced by leftist ideals and their lyrics reflected those beliefs. Never advocates of anarchy or other punk ethos, The Clash eventually embraced their rather un-punk status.

This past week a documentary entitled “Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten” played at the Milwaukee International Film Festival. Although a documentary on Joe Strummer, the film is, for the most part, a documentary on The Clash.

Veteran director Julien Temple has had a fascination with the punk movement since he attended the National Film School in London in the 1970s. He was also relatively close friends with Joe Strummer, which serves as a double-edged sword throughout the film.

Temple keeps Strummer an arm’s length away at many times and does not get as personal as people may hope. There are, for example, no interviews with Strummer’s children, who in fact refused to be associated with the movie.

There is also no background on the relationship between Strummer and his father, who played a very instrumental role in Strummer’s childhood.

All of the interviews throughout the film take place around a campfire, as Strummer felt more at peace in front of a campfire than in any other setting. Holding bonfires for his friends was a favorite pastime of Strummer’s, and the film pays homage to that. Bono, John Cusack and Steve Buschemi, among others, are interviewed throughout the film.

Those looking for an in-depth look at Strummer’s solo career will be disappointed to find out that the film is essentially a documentary on The Clash, with Strummer at the foreground. Yet as the film proves, Strummer was and still is so closely associated with The Clash that it is hard to separate the two.

In the end, fans of both Joe Strummer and The Clash will find a lot to like in this film. It covers the forming of The Clash and Strummer's attitude about the band, as well as his time with The Mescaleros.

We see how The Clash rose to popularity and eventually became so popular that they ceased to be a punk band, which both they and the fans recognized. Their eventual breakup left Strummer drifting through a period of working on music for films and acting in some, which finally helped him get back to his music career.

While Strummer and Clash fans will get the most out of the movie, the film has enough merits to be enjoyed by anyone interested in music or interesting characters from the past. Joe Strummer has posthumously enjoyed a surge in popularity since his death in 2002, and “Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten” shows why his popularity never should have waned in the first place.

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