For the first time, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin agree to sit down and tell the story of their journey from small towns to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Featuring exclusive interviews with guitarist Jimmy Page, lead singer Robert Plant and bass guitarist John Paul Jones, as well as a rare archive interview with late drummer John Bonham, the documentary uses previously unseen footage and photos of the band’s infancy to illustrate their upbringing. From finding themselves playing on a James Bond theme song as session musicians to surprisingly selling out shows in the United States, BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN is a rear window into the 1960’s and 70’s music scene and those who helped build it.
Led Zeppelin was known for going beyond the conventional sounds of their day and experimenting on stage and in studio. One would think a documentary about the band would do the same. Instead, BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN is a linear, hyper-focused, whitewashed recounting of the band’s origins, hardly a comprehensive look of the band as a whole.
As a music fan, a lover of documentaries and a student of different genres, I learned a lot about Led Zeppelin — and The Yardbirds — that I never knew before. And that’s what you want in a documentary, honestly. You want to be presented with old stories, unknown data and rare footage, all of which paint a much deeper picture of the subject, whether you already know the subject or not. And, to it’s credit, BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN does that.
The problem lies in the fact that the documentary hides behind its soundtrack, only covers their first two albums, doesn’t dive into any off-stage issues between band members and there’s zero mention of any substance abuse — which killed Bonham in 1980, by the way, effectively ended the band, so isn’t that a pretty important piece?
There are basic filmmaking issues here as well. Why are we getting full performances of multiple songs? Whether it’s to fill the run time or because the director is a fan and can’t help himself, it’s unacceptable. Also, why are we getting two complete versions of Communication Breakdown? I understand the idea is to contrast the response of the UK crowd and the response of the US crowd but there are far more efficient ways to do that without dedicating 14 minutes of the movie to it. And finally, typically documentaries end with some sort of emotionally impactful moment, such as a poignant soundbite or footage that ties a nice little bow on what the audience just watched. This movie just kind of… ends.
BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN feels like an incomplete, whitewashed history of one of the greatest bands in the history of music. The die hards will fawn over every frame while more general audiences will wonder why its over 2 hours long. As with anything in life, you can’t just remove the bad or unsightly parts of somebody’s story and pretend to know them. Director Bernard MacMahon’s job was to educate the audience on Led Zeppelin, not just be happy sitting down with his idols. And, unfortunately, I suspect the latter was the reality.
JKG SCORE: 5.5
Untitled Film Project 