Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Andrew Eastel
	Actors: David Gest, Katherine Jackson, Tito Jackson
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2018, VOD, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: As the title says.
Review: Nine years (already) after the disappearing of the King of Pop of whom I used to be fan, why not watching a 2.5-hour Documentary on his life and career, produced 2 years after he was gone? The Life of an Icon promised never-seen-before footage, photos and interviews and it delivers for a while. I even learned a few things, especially about the early years, even though I thought I knew it all. The memories of interviewed family members, neighbors and friends of the time add a nice touch. Then came my first problem with the Documentary: after having played heavily (and out of order) the Jackson 5 tubes during the first 45 minutes, it then stops playing Michael and his brother's music as soundtrack to rather use a boring monotonous score as any TV-Documentary would do. I guess it is a stupid question of rights that were not granted, but that does spoil the show. The rise of Michael as solo artist is shown under a slightly new light which is interesting, but I was so disappointed not to see an extract of his performance at the Motown 25 show where he introduced the world to the Moonwalk. Again probably a question of rights but that starts to be annoying. This omission made me remember the TV-series The Jacksons: An American Dream that depicts the life of the Family until the 80's, that is an Americans favorite and that I had watched many times. The Motown 25 re-enactment in this series used to give me shivers as well as the real one. Then the Documentary introduces very honestly the accident that pushed Michael Jackson into painkillers, as well as the plastic surgery issue that was briefly but finally clarified by people close to him. And then third strike against the Documentary: it spends the last hour focusing on the pedophilia trials, in particular the last one that took a heavy tool on the superstar. It also gossips on Family issues and the naive trust of Michael towards others, which made him the target for many abuses. And it does so with many shortcuts that assume the viewer already knows the context because he has followed this charade at the time. Even thought it taught me about those difficult times in the life of the artist, it is done in a way that goes against what he always fought against (in songs from Leave me Alone to Tabloid Junkie). Meanwhile not a word is said about his work since the album Bad in the 80's! Bad turn for a Documentary that had well started.
Rating: 4 /10