Documentary Review and Experience by Cristian

Our reader Cristian attended the premiere of I’m Going To Tell You A Secret in New York last night and he is back with his report/review.

“Well my night with Madonna was absolutely amazing. It was an experience to say the least, one which I cherish. I got there around 5:30 pm or so and got my tickets. My friend Jeremy came with me, whom I had taken with me to last year’s Re-Invention tour when I had won a pair of tickets to be in the pit for the show (via MTV again). You know, it’s funny when I was younger I used to think that I would never win something like that. To have won something so special for someone I adore so much via MTV is really a dream come true. This city (NYC) has been so good to me, and I’m grateful for it. Anyway, I was in line with a bunch of other crazy Madonna fans. A couple of people flew from in from London to see this. I met others whom had flown in from California and Michigan when they had won the pair of tickets.

We were let in and well the theatre was about 75% full or so. The remainder of the theatre was blocked off, as I would later learn, for Madonna and her guests which included her manager, producer of her new album, the film director, some of the dancers, and I believe a couple of celebrities were there as well but I could give a sh*t about them – I was there for Madonna and her documentary.

Click on the Full Article link below to continue reading this story Cristian wants to share with MadonnaTribe.

• Madonna
As usual, she arrived late. She looked wonderful though (see pics attached in this e-mail of her on the red carpet). The NYC crowd in the theatre was loud, appreciative, and we kept yelling to her that we loved her – the cheer was pretty enormous when she walked in the theatre. She told us to shut up after awhile – lol – kinda funny. She talked about how difficult it was to slim down 350 hours of footage to 2 hours for the film. The most magical part is when she told us how she read some of our letters via her fan site, and read some of the things we would write in to her (I was very surprised to know she read some of the stuff we send to her) and how she hears from us that she really inspires us and ‘gets us up’. She, in turn, said, something along the lines of: ‘but you guys don’t realize that you guys lift me up thank you so much for sticking by me through everything, it’s meant a lot to me’. I almost cried when she said this to us.

• The documentary
It’s sad that this movie isn’t going to be released in the theatres, at least via limited release in select cities, or something along the lines of that. I know Madonna was trying to find a distributor, but in the end, for whatever reason, it simply didn’t happen and this is going to air on MTV/VH-1 commercial free and then it’s going to be on DVD. The movie is wonderful and I say this objectively because not everything Madonna does I am a fan of. Her last album was mediocre to say the least, but her Re-Invention tour last year made up for it in a huge way. It’s tough to say exactly what the documentary is like it’s certainly not your typical documentary. Just as in 1990 when Madonna filmed the documentary for that tour, which later became ‘Truth or Dare‘ released a year later. Madonna set out to film a typical documentary in 1990 and then it turned out that she wanted to send a message with it. At the time, the message was ‘the truth’ or at least her truth at that particular time. The truth was, Madonna acted like a spoiled brat many times, but you also had to respect her beyond-belief work ethics and professionalism. You did see a lot of character defects of Madonna, but then again, who doesn’t have them? In the end, ‘Truth or Dare‘ is a time-stamp, a wonderful one, but one where you see a woman who has a lot of growing up still left.

The new documentary shows Madonna 14 years later – to say she has grown up a lot is really an understatement. Madonna is much more mellow in this film, and also much more concentrated in what she’s doing. She’s more focused and her message this time isn’t about shocking people, or pushing buttons – it’s about something else- which is what makes this film work. The film shows a lot of her family, her husband, her daughter and son, her father, and she narrates realizations which shows her maturity. She admits how she now understands why her father was so uncomfortable with the person she used to be – and the things she used to do for public attention. She admits that there is no such thing as your perfect soulmate, or a perfect relationship – that loving someone unconditionally, and taking them for who they are is a challenge, but one which could bring you a lot more happiness then having someone there who doesn’t challenge you at all. She admits that she used to be incredibly unkind and lacked much compassion for others – and that her messages many times lacked direction, even more so, a positive direction sometimes. You also see a lot of footage of her dancers, and how she relates to them… and how much the dancers respect this woman, as they should, but more so because Madonna inspires them to become better versions of themselves to ask questions, and progress in life to not stop going forward, it’s wonderful to see that this is the main message Madonna brings to them.

The concert footage of the tour is absolutely beautiful – it really does the performances justice – the performances completely come to life. I was a little disappointed that ‘Into The Groove‘ and ‘Crazy For You‘ weren’t shown in full – but ahh well, you can’t show everything I guess. The wonderful part was to watch these concert scenes in a theatre full of very enthusiastic fans -we were all dancing in our seats (some people even got up and danced), clapping with our hands in the air, and we sang everything together- it was wonderful. In terms of the performance moments as well, one of the most interesting parts of the documentary was where she talked about her performance in Dublin, Ireland in front of 70, 000 people at Slane Castle which experienced lots of rain (her only outdoor show), and had a full moon. She talks about how she was concentrating so much on the safety of the dancers, her own safety, making sure everything was going ok stage-wise, trying to protect herself as rain would hit her face and her body, trying to shield herself from the cold and keep warm, etc. that afterwards, she doesn’t remember a single moment from the show – at least, not until later. She talks about how as soon as she was done with the performance, her mind went blank, and she doesn’t remember anything about it – you see her right after the show – and she looks pretty out of it – kind of like – wow she’s not always superwoman, and it’s a bit humbling.

Ultimately, though, the message of the film, like I said, is not one you would expect from a typical documentary. The Kabbalah is talked about throughout the film, but Madonna doesn’t preach about it. She says that the Kabbalah is where she found her connection the world and to a higher power, ‘It’s the only thing that’s worked for me’ she says. She talks about how she reads the Zohar each night, and the lessons she’s learned from it. She states that she sees that her life has a purpose now, and that it’s important that she be responsible with her message, and her statements. She sees that compassion, gratefulness, kindness, being kind and loving your enemies, being kind and loving people around you, forgiveness, hope, these are the things that she says she finds importance in now. She sees and feels that what you put out in the universe, is what you will receive back in, and she no longer feels like such a victim of the sometimes-chaotic world that goes on around her. She’s not sure, though, whether she can really make a change in certain aspects but at the same times, she feels that if people unite if people come together, the unity of humanity that can absolutely make a change in this world. She talks a lot about light, and how she wishes to be a channel for it, instead of simply covering her eyes and pretending it’s not there. If I would say there’s one general theme about the movie, it’s that goodness, kindness, hope, progress, work, and being responsible these things can truly make a difference .that we can all become better versions of ourselves. She refers to herself not as a guru, but as a student of her teachings and her life. It’s rather wonderful. Mind you, she doesn’t say any of this is easy, you see that it’s a lot of work, and it’s not roses and posies to accomplish the steps to go forward in life, she but she makes you realize that it can be done, and that it’s not impossible.