WHAM! Review: Directed by Chris Smith, the documentary stars George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in archival footage. While John Battsek, Alex Black and Simon Halfon join the crew as producers. Iain Cooke joins the crew as a music supervisor, while Estera Dabrowska joins as the music coordinator. This film is edited by Gregor Lyon, who had the herculean task of putting together the shots so their whole story makes sense. It is a 92-minute long film, mostly consisting of animated and archival content. The former has been compiled by Stefan Nadelman.
– The WHAM! Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Documentaries or biopics about musicians are filled with so much strife, chaos, drama and the feeling that they are always on the cusp of danger. However, this film manages to do away with any of the popular tropes when it comes to pop performers. They managed to bring every little visual evidence showing these two people from their humble beginnings. It is absolutely brilliant that we heard their story in their own voice. For a group so iconic, for a story so well-known and for underdogs, this was the perfect way to tell their story.
Starting with the narrative structure, the movie shows us how they can take us all the way from the beginning, through the journey of their childhood, but also come back and refer to it later in the film’s progression. Additionally, dividing their career by scrapbooks kept by Ridgeley’s mother was one of the best structural elements because it conveyed proximity and intimacy in a way that wouldn’t have been possible if they had used any other kind of sectioning transition.
Secondly, the story of each of these artists was limited to their relationship with music, fame and the stories associated with it. We weren’t taken on a useless detour across their other personal information. It was purely about music and their rise to fame in a way that had been unprecedented for artists. Even though a duet group always provides some ground for exploring strife and conflict, this documentary strayed away from that trope and instead gave us the healthy friendship model with WHAM!
When two people love each other, there is always a better way to find a way out of conflict, and this movie managed to present that clearly, with as much love as possible. Speaking of love, one can see the amount of care and respect that went into creating a project of this scale. There is not a single dramatic reconstruction in this documentary (except for the animation of the scrapbooks). All of the footage has been taken from some archive.
It must have been a true testament to patience and determination to scrub through hours and hours of footage to get something interesting to model a documentary out of. Additionally, it only takes someone who knows these two people intimately to match footage with the exact thing being played on the voiceover track. While many think the band was only Michael’s, this documentary gives both the members their laurels and the reason why their career reached the heights it did was because of the partnership.
The fact that we don’t see Ridgeley or any of the other members of their life from the present time is such a wonderful to keep this mythical and larger-than-life narrative of their career going. There was never a rise and fall in their career, there was just a rise, and they went out on top. The reason why this documentary works is because of its wholesomeness. They give viewers the opportunity to see a story that doesn’t end with a quiet, resigned acceptance. The duo gave exactly what they promised, happiness and smiles.
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WHAM! Review: Final Thoughts
If one is looking to get a little peak into the song that kept Tiktok going at the beginning of the pandemic, this documentary tells the story of WHAM! Which is the band that made it. The story is brilliant, the editing is fantastic, and the interviews are also incredibly informative about their motivations behind making certain kinds of music. It also tells the story of artists who didn’t compromise their artistic integrity to pander to a formula of pop music.
This is the perfect musical documentary to kick back and watch. There isn’t a lot of drama or tension that creates conflict. It is mostly understanding, sweet and celebratory of the era and the band that became a record-breaker in many ways. With a brilliant, fast-paced project taking us through their band career in 90 minutes, this documentary manages to make its way to the top of its genre.
WHAM! is currently streaming on Netflix.
What did you think of the documentary? Have you heard of the duo before this documentary? Let us know in the comments below.
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