Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band

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Bobby C @SeniorFancyPants 04/17/2022 Fascinating story. You don't have to be a fan of The Band or Robbie Robertson. See more 01/01/2022 I really enjoyed it . See more dave s @RT68722908 01/01/2022 Haters are gonna hate, but regardless of your feelings about Robbie Robertson, Once Were Brothers is a remarkably insightful documentary about the iconic band The Band. Covering the early years as The Hawks, backing up ‘Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, to touring with Dylan after he went electric to their years working out of Woodstock to their final show as documented in The Last Waltz, it is informative and joyous and tragic and, most importantly, wildly entertaining. Fans of The Band will enjoy the behind-the-scenes footage and stills. The uninitiated will find it a primer for understanding the early years of rock and roll. See more 07/15/2021 Good documentary, but this is Robbie Roberson's one-sided version of what happened. Levon and others disagree. See more 06/05/2021 Every time I watch or read something about musicians I end up disappointed, except for the Beatles & David Bowie. I liked a few of The Band's hits. I find it very sad that Robertson couldn't share his fortune from royalties. Levon Helm was right in being upset because without him the songs were only words on paper. Greed is a terrible thing. See more susan j @CallMeLulu 03/22/2021 As said regarding "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," the 2020 HBO documentary about the Bee Gees: to the victor go the spoils. In the context of both the Bee Gees' documentary and The Band's documentary, "Once We Were Brothers," the victors are those who live longest, and "the spoils" is control of the bands' narratives. While Garth Hudson is still alive--and as recently several years ago struggling with health issues, in poverty, in Woodstock NY, having to resort to selling off many of his possessions to pay medical bills--he appears little in this film. Which is interesting. And disappointing. And....not terribly surprising. Although I don't remember all the details, I contributed to a GoFundMe for Garth in the past decade, and recall that he and the other members of The Band (i.e., those who are not Robbie Robertson) believe themselves to have been shafted in terms of composition credit and royalties. So, I'm inferring from his lack of presence in this film--in fact, lack of any contemporaneous mention by Robertson or this film, beyond a 1-line epilogue stating Garth lives in Upstate NY with his wife--that either Garth Hudson chose not to participate, is not healthy enough to participate, or Robbie Robertson decided he didn't want to include him. As a result of the aforementioned--i.e., everyone from The Band is dead, not counting Garth Hudson, who is simply absent--the only contemporaneous voice represented in Once Were Brothers is Robbie Robertson. Now, I don't dislike Robbie Robertson, but from the first time I saw The Last Waltz, in middle school, I knew he was a showboater. A handsome (at least then) and charismatic showboater, but one nonetheless. He has no qualms with that, and in fact implies that no one understood him and his zeal for Big Success until his mother Dolly revealed to him as a teenager the identity of his real father, who was Jewish, and upon meeting each other the Jewish side of the family immediately embraced his ambition and drive, encouraging him to strive when no one else had previously done so. Be that as it may, showboater or not, Robertson tells the story of The Band much in the way Barry Gibb told the story of The BeeGees, without attempt to be objective, nor to include narratives that may make him look anything but virtuous, the most talented, the most sane, and center stage at all times (now and throughout either bands' history). "Once Were Brothers" is based on Robertson's autobiography, so I don't fault him for the project's self-centeredness, but believe it would have been fairer to have named it something closer to the autobiography title: "Testimony: A Memoir by Robbie Robertson." However, since there is no other semi-comprehensive documentary about The Band (I consider The Last Waltz to be what it was--a concert film), therefore--again--despite its heavy Robbie Robertson tilt, for better or worse, it is going to function as The Band's definitive documentary. To the positive, lots of great footage from throughout the years--much of it I'd never seen before, some of which I recognized as outtakes from The Last Waltz (which, fortunately, were available to Once Were Brothers' filmmaker Scorsese, since Scorsese....also made The Last Waltz)--and some engaging interview snippets from well-known musicians about the band (although [1] not a fraction as many as one might have imagined nor would have been desirable, and [2] many of these recent interviews probably did came to fruition due to the Scorsese connection. An enjoyably barely coherent brogueing Van Morrison stood out for me, since one seems him so seldom. Some music critics have observed "bitterness" in Robbie Robertson in this film. For me, 120 of the film's 140 minutes were quite riveting and positive. At 1 hour 20 minutes there was a shift in tone where I didn't perceive Robertson to be bitter as much as defensive and a smidge self-righteous about his legacy vs the rest of The Bands'. That didn't matter to me as much as I might have expected--because I adored Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, and especially Rick Danko. However, as I felt about Barry Gibb in the BeeGee's documentary, I wouldn't expect great depth, complexity, reflection, or insights from Robbie Robertson. Robertson did a yeoman's job with The Band, was a more than competent guitarist, is wholly unique songwriter of archteypeal tunes, and was massively focused and driven. But that doesn't mean he is particularly introspective. And it shows in this film. It's absolutely worth 4 stars, but it also absolutely is "Robbie Robertson Telling His Story of The Band," rather than The Story of The Band. I dock the film 1 star for Robertson's very likely being a dick of a person, and not giving adequate credit where credit was due to the other band members, in terms of their foundational contribution to the songs' creation and therefore royalties--and legacy. Whenever Robertson would be saying things like he rushed to Levon's deathbed but it was too late so he whispered "See ya on the other side, my Brother" I found myself making "I smell bullshit" faces. Among other reasons: everyone knew Levon was ill, so Robertson had plenty of time to make amends, but he probably knew Levon would expend his last puff of air telling him to go to Hell; and beyond that he just seemed treacly and sentimental, for the cameras. However, gauging the film more or less on its own merits, it does deserve 4**** and if you're at all a The Band fan, or music and popular culture of that era, it's a must-see. See more Read all reviews

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band

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