Written and directed by Daniel Roher
Featuring Martin Scorsese, Bob Dylan and Levon Helm
MPAA rating :R for some language and drug references
Running time: 1 hour and 40 minutes

by Ashley Jane Carruthers

I need to start this by disclosing that I fucking love The Band. Like, I *really* love The Band. I’ve heard all the albums, read all the books, watched all the documentaries. That being said, I was extremely excited to watch Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band. You really have no idea. I first saw it at the  Cinefest Film Festival in the fall, and having the opportunity to watch it again made me just as excited (my sweetheart, who certainly does not love The Band, has been veryyy patiently putting up with me going on and on and on about them and this documentary). 

It’s quite apparent that this documentary was made by a true fan. Director Daniel Roher is young and, like many kids, including me, with parents who love a certain era of music, he grew up with The Band - before he even knew who they were. Daniel contacted Robbie to make a documentary based on his autobiography, Testimony. The Toronto-based musician was impressed by the Toronto-based filmmaker’s passion and commitment to the project. The fact that a 26 year-old made this documentary that became the opening film for TIFF is really quite impressive. I would have LOVED to make a documentary about my favourite band, and there is no way it would be anywhere near as good as this is, with such high calibre production backing. As it turns out, lots of people love The Band!

This documentary tells the story of Robbie Robertson (most recently known as the dude that did *that* score for The Irishman - no comment) and his Canadian beginnings, to his discovery of rock n roll music, his shaping of the Toronto guitar sound, his meeting one very special American, and forming a band with other Canadians that, arguably, created Americana music. Maybe that sounds confusing, but it’s not. It doesn’t venture too much beyond The Band’s farewell, a seminal concert turned Martin Scorsese documentary, The Last Waltz, and honestly, that is a-ok with me. Make no mistake, Robbie Robertson is incredibly talented. A talented songwriter and guitarist, but speaking for myself, I am mostly interested in his work with The Band. 

Something I really loved about this film, compared with other Band docs I have seen, was the time dedicated to their years as Bob Dylan’s backing band. Even as a super-fan, I tend to forget those years. It’s interesting, even purely from just a historical point of view, to visit those years. This was when Dylan was being booed every night for “going electric”. His audience did not want to let him outside of the protest song folk singer box, and he did not give a shit. I also love Bob Dylan, but The Band went on to be so much more than his live band, and it makes me proud.

I love the song choices in the film and the method the director uses of matching archival photographs with the beat of whatever song is playing. It utilizes great clips, including my favourite video from the Big Pink sessions (and that one positively PRICELESS scene from The Last Waltz where Van Morrison does a fucking high kick while wearing a sparkly plum coloured jumpsuit), and a host of new interviews. The interviews in this documentary are most impressive. There are a host of big names I was not expecting. Eric Clapton. Bruce Springsteen. Van Morrison. Martin Scorsese. And you’ll never guesssssss what! They all seem to think Robbie is a total genius. But, guess who we don’t hear from. Every other member of The Band. This is the biggest problem.

It’s simply impossible to tell the story of a band making up 5 individuals from the perspective of only one and not have it be incredibly biased. The only other surviving member, Windsor Ontario’s sweetheart, Garth Hudson, is famously shy (and more likely, totally uninterested) and you never see many interviews with him. Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Levon Helm have all died. True, the documentary has Robbie Robertson in the title. It’s clear that he will be the focus. Just take that with a grain of salt. Also, it’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy hearing from Robbie himself, because I did. I loved hearing personal anecdotes about how he got his start, how he met Ronnie Hawkins, how he wanted to work with Ingmar Bergman (I audibly gasped at this), and how he met Levon and the others. I also truly thought all the bits about his wife and family were seriously heartwarming. It was just too much, and at times left me physically rolling my eyes. Every good idea was his, and every misstep was not. Robbie here makes out as if he’s a perfect angel, and I’m not buying it. 

There are comments he makes throughout that just rubbed me the wrong way. For instance, in the Dylan segment, he comments that he was the one who was closest to Bob, and that Levon didn’t like that. Feels a little grade 3 to me. He claims that he was always 100% committed, but the others became mere slaves to drugs and alcohol. I’m not saying he’s wrong, I just do not like the feeling of some of the things he says about these men, who were, as the title suggests, once his “brothers”. I do feel that Robbie is being totally genuine, and he is just delivering his truth. And you know what? He has every right to, absolutely. At times he becomes emotional, and I believe him. I’m just also saying that if you want the definitive story of The Band, this isn’t it. There is no one left to dispute what he says.

Truth be told, my favourite member of The Band is LEVON HELM. This man had more cool in his pinky than I do in my entire being. The falling out the two had surrounding songwriting royalties (seriously, do NOT get me started on this because I will never shut up) did not end well, and I don’t like the way it’s spun here. It also made me sad that both Rick and Richard seem to mostly be spoken as these tragic figures, when there was so much more to them than that. 

Is this a fair documentary? Nah. Do I think you should see it? Absolutely! I loved it. It made me so excited to go back to some albums I didn’t listen to and actually find gems I’ve never noticed before (I swear to you, I have listened to “Ring Your Bell” eight hundred times in the last two weeks). It’s an inspirational story of a little Canadian boy who wanted to be a star and worked hard until he made it! But this is the issue with an undertaking like this - making a documentary about your hero. No one, least of all the director-fan, is going to challenge Robbie.

Do you remember The Beatles Anthology? I was pu-uh-uh-umped when that thing came out. True, John Lennon had died long before it was made, but they utilized a lot of archival interviews to tell his side of the story in what I found to be a very fair and balanced way. Each member got to tell their story. That is what I think made it such a big success. This is not The Band Anthology, I realize that. I guess I just wish it was.

All things considered, I enjoyed the hell out of this. It made me want to join a band again immediately.

Note: WATCH THE LAST WALTZ BECAUSE IT FUCKING OWNS. And to be fair, Robbie’s bronzed Stratocaster is litchrilly on fire.

BONUS: Ashley Jane’s “Not Your Dad’s” THE BAND Playlistaka Levon Helm Appreciation Society Playlist

1) Life is a Carnival (Cahoots)

2) King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (The Band)

3) Stage Fright (Stage Fright)

4) Caledonia Mission (Music From Big Pink)

5) When You Awake (The Band)

6) RING YOUR BELL (Northern Lights - Southern Cross)

7) We Can Talk (Music From Big Pink)

8) Ophelia (Northern Lights - Southern Cross)

9) It Makes No Difference (Northern Lights - Southern Cross)

10) Don’t Do It (Rock of Ages)