Most documentaries about bands no longer active rarely get the musician’s seal of approval, and when we’re dealing with supergroup Led Zeppelin, director Bernard MacMahon better get the facts right! In what his work offers is a look at their start. It begins with looking at who Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant are before they met.
What’s great about this work is this filmmaker is not focussing on any specific individual. The survivors are all there to reminisce about fond times. When they were young, the first act shows how music entered their lives, what they did before meeting, and that famous session zero.
To note, this documentary is not meant to be a comprehensive look at the group. It’s made to be a love letter about how they came into the world. Fans looking for all the hedonism and debauchery which followed in their rapid rise to fame can look elsewhere. What this film does is simply part one of their journey, and that’s becoming Led Zeppelin. Through new interviews, archival footage and a few never-seen materials, it’s a highlight reel about the work to promote their first two albums.
The sound mix is excellent because it’s using the remastered tracks to play in the theatre. As for the rest of their discography, and what happens next, at least two more films are required to cover their rise and decision to disband.
4 Stars out of 5
