Genre: Film (Amazon)
Grade: A
Notable People: Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manual, Garth Hudson, and a cast of luminaries offering tribute Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Title: Once Were Brothers
Review: Winner of several major awards, this is the story of The Band- albeit through the eyes of Robbie Robertson. Scorsese reprises his magic of the Last Waltz in telling the story of the greatest American Band of all time. Poignant, funny, provocative…loaded with esoterica. Since Robertson is the last man standing (Hudson is still alive, but a bit of recluse) it is expectedly skewed to be more his story, but I will say it is a lot more human and empathetic than his past tellings. It’s really am amazing story of extraordinary success and the collective bains of the times: drugs, drink, crazed living and resentments. They were just too good to last. Rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins, who gave them their start in the wilds of Canadian Honky Tonks- as his backing band, when they were still teens, is the shining star of the show-still a wild man. Dylan talks about going electric with them at Newport in 1965, Clapton talks about going up to Woodstock and trying to join the band, Springsteen talks about hearing Big Pink the first time and never being the same. If you are even a minor fan of the music, this is must see. If not, it’s still a wonderfully done and stimulating documentary film. Did I mention, that the music is pretty good…