Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson & The Band

"I pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin' 'bout half-past dead." The Band's The Weight featuring Levon Helm

With that song, the world of mid-century America became aware of a new sound, Americana: a country rock with soul and surpassingly genial musicians. Daniel Roher's Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band is a memorable documentary as well as a most engaging history of the colorful era of '60's and '70's rock, where loud, sensual music eclipsed any other form in previous cultural changes.

With the producing guidance of Martin Scorsese, who helmed The Last Waltz about the Band's final concert, Robbie Robertson, guitarist and songwriter, guides us through his teen years and hookup with musicians who themselves would hook up with Bob Dylan, to help him tour to the boos of audiences that just didn't get the electric guitar: Dylan exclaims, "They were gallant knights for standing behind me."

Deftly carrying us through photo album pics and original music, this remarkable doc makes it feel like we are there, reliving the charismatic troupe's glory days and eventually its struggle with drugs. As Robbie says, "It was so beautiful, it went up in flames."

However, it's a story well told, even down to the homely shots of Robbie courting Dominique and their eventually blissful marriage.

Heroin emerges (as it frequently seems to do) with devastating effect on the gifted Levon. Through it all, Robbie lets us know how much he loved this brotherhood, and we see the contribution he continues to make to the welfare of music and people.

We have been blessed in the last few years with outstanding films about music-let Once were Brothers be at the top of the list: It was "a sound you've never heard before, but like they've always been here." Bruce Springsteen

Robbie Robertson does a wonderful job taking us down the initial primrose path of the music of The Band, bluntly, honestly, with with compassion, up to the time when hard drugs changed two of the five.

I can vividly remember getting the 'brown' album, which I still have, and being blown away by what I thought were former Confederate soldiers (which they resembled on the cover, old Civil War photos come to life). The music, vocals, and lyrics were indelibly fixed in my mind and I played the album for days even up to today. I played the tape out in my car (perfect driving music). 'Once Were Brothers' is music history iwell thought out and told by Robertson with archival footage of the other members and guest historians (Ronnie Hawkins, their road manager, Clapton, Van Morrison, etc.). Lots of stuff here that I didn't know. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, and the doc prompted me to get out my Band LPs and CDS for a nice listen.

If you are a fan or even new to The Band you shouldn't be disappointed in this film. Just take a trip back and enjoy the scenery.

This writer grew up with this music, so I must be biased. When I was living a few miles from the Big Pink house, neither I or any of my friends had any idea who they were and what was going on. That is the reason that this film seems like such a revelation. It opens the door to the real feel of where the magical music came from, and why it seems so strong today. This is film is a joy from first to last frame, and has a simply amazing rhythm and poetry. It is a story of love, destruction, creation and the ecstasy around one of the truly great pop bands. It is true that the POV is from Robbie, but since he is one of only two survivors, that issue is irrelevant. What we see is what they saw. And the feeling runs through us with the same joy and excitement they felt playing right to the last notes of the last show. What a beautiful trip it was.

"Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band" (2019 release from Canada; 100 min.) is a documentary about the Band. As the movie opens, today's Robbie Robertson addresses the camera and talks about his music-writing process. We then go back in time to the origins of the Band, as talking heads like Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton comment on how tight these 5 guys were, "like a brotherhood". We then go back even further in time, to Robbie Robertson's upbringing in Canada and how he was exposed to music at an early age. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie.

Couple of comments: this movie is directed by documentarian Daniel Roher, but more importantly executive-produced by Martin Scorsese (who of course directed "The Last Waltz") and Ron Howard. In the end credits, we learn that the documentary is "inspired by" Robbie Robertson's 2017 memoir "Testimony", and indeed this is very much Robertson's perspective on how things unfolded. The documentary is absolutely tops in its first half, where we revisit how Robertson, at age 15, wrote a couple of songs for Ronny Hawkins & the Hawks (where the drummer was a certain Levon Helms), and a year later he was invited to join the Hawks. Plenty of archive footage along the way livens up the big screen, and it's like sitting at the feet of a music history teacher. Indeed, Robertson proves to be quite the master story teller ("joining Bob Dylan was a detour but we decided it was a worthwhile detour"). The movie's second half is not quite as formidable, as we follow the Band's demise (leading to the brilliant 1976 farewell concert "The Last Waltz"), and the subsequent bitter falling-out between Helms and Robertson. But in the end, the proof is in the pudding: I couldn't believe how quickly the theater's house lights came back on, as the movie had simply flown by in no time. When in the last scene of the movie we watch them play "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" in "The Last Waltz" and we are reminded that it was the very last time these 5 guys ever played on stage together, I readily admit that I choked up. What a loss for rock music that was!

"Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band" premiered last Fall at the Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim. It opened last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati and I finally got a chance to see it this weekend. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was not attended well (3 people, to be exact), and I can't see this playing much longer in theaters. But it you are a fan of rock music history or simply a fan of the Band, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

I was in tears by the end of the show. I started out jaded. Thinking this is some Robbie puff piece...and it is. But so much more. It's a love letter to his friends.