Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band takes us through the rock and roll history of Robbie Robertson and his journey through starting his music career, meeting Levon Helm, and working his way through multiple versions of what became The Band.
The film was "inspired by" Robertson's 2016 memoir Testimony. Robertson meets Helm when the latter was the drummer for Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins convinces Robertson to leave Canada for the Mississippi Delta. Levon and the Hawks became a thing. This band became the band for Bob Dylan, getting booed every night during the tour.
Robertson and Helm are joined one by one by the other Canadian members of the group: Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel.
Robertson got his love for music by going back to his roots at the Six Nations of the Grand River, where his mother was from. Robertson grew up in Toronto. He finds out as a teenager that his blood father was, in the words from a witness in the film, a "Jewish gangster."
The group lived in Woodstock, NY where they formed the music that became the calling card for The Band. Robertson guides us through the drug use, especially heroin, among the other members.
Robertson's wife Dominique offers an intriguing perspective on how much she appreciated what the band was together more than the sum of the individuals. She gives a good sense of who they are as individuals.
This is the history of The Band from Robertson's point of view, good and bad.
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Robertson was also in the documentary Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World. Difficult to tell the story of Robbie Robertson without factoring in the role of Indigenous players in rock and roll history.
Taj Mahal, who was interviewed for this film, featured the talents of Jesse Ed Davis on guitar. That documentary showcases Link Wray, Robbie Robertson and The Band, and Canadian treasure Buffy Sainte-Marie. The film ran on Independent Lens on PBS.
2019 TIFF Canadian film wrapup
2019 TIFF preview
2019 TIFF Canadian film preview
The documentary is linear in that events happen in order but you do feel like small parts are cast aside to tell the broader story of the group. There are clips from the other members but they are limited. All but Robertson and Hudson have passed on.
The film even covers Helm's concerns over songwriting royalties.
The Band along with the Guess Who were early prominent Canadian or mostly Canadian bands (Helm was American) to cross over into the States.
The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
The journey ends at The Last Waltz in 1976, the last time they ever played together on stage. Martin Scorsese, who directed The Last Waltz about The Band, was an executive producer of this film along with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.
Notable interview subjects include Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, George Harrison, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, and Taj Mahal. Clapton talks about wanting to join the band members but they say no.
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band became the first Canadian film to open the Toronto International Film Festival since 2010 and the first Canadian documentary to have that honour.
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band has opened in select cities in the United States. The film premiered in November on Crave in Canada.
video credit: YouTube/Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing
photo credit: Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band film
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