A Filmmaker's Review: "Michael Jackson: The Last 24 Hours" (2018)

"Michael Jackson: The Last 24 Hours" is one of those documentaries that shines a light on to not only the death of Michael Jackson, but the incredible but ultimately, tiring, life he led. It is a classic portrait and a great, raw look at one of history's greatest artists. Personally, he is one of my biggest heroes and I will always love, respect and cherish the man as an idol of mine. Michael Jackson's death was not only a blow for me, but one for the entire planet - ultimately, it was our fault he died. We pushed him much too far and we kept saying 'more' when in reality, he needed rest. He didn't get any rest, and so now - now, I guess he's resting. At least the man got to lie down for once. He was working non-stop throughout his 40-year career from five years' old until his death at 50. No wonder he was completely shattered.

Michael Jackson's death is like 9/11 or the Death of Elvis Presley - if you lived through it, you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing at the time he died and you can also remember what happened when someone, somewhere, broke the devastating news to you. Here's my story:

I was 13 years' old and my cousin was over from India, she was staying in my room on a separate bed. We would play with dolls under our beds because the space was bigger for ages and ages. My dad had talked about getting tickets to "This is It" and everyone who was around remembers the chants of "This is It" on TV when the announcement was made by the King of Pop himself. As I was saying, my cousin and I were playing with dolls and it must've been quite late in the night because we may have fallen asleep there. Getting up to go to bed, we only slept a few hours until the morning when my older brother tries to break my bedroom door down by slamming it one. Barging into my room, he breaks the news to me - I didn't believe it, thought it was another hoax and burst out laughing. "Of course he did..." (rolls eyes). Then my brother shows me a photograph he took on his phone of the TV screen when the headline appeared on Sky News, because he knew I wouldn't believe him. My laughing quickly subsided. Very, very quickly. It stopped entirely. My brother left the room and I, well I went into the bathroom, began crying - having a panic attack and then I spent the next hour or so vomiting continuously.

Well, I have read many, many books about Michael Jackson - I have studied him, written about him, listened to his music for years before he died, I even have over 120 badges and over £500 worth of merchandise. Let's take a look at a superfan's take on this documentary and why I gave it 5/5...

Summary

The documentary starts with a reconstruction of what they think his death would've looked like in his final few hours. It takes it slow and steady and I felt initially that it was a little long for a prologue but it does fit with the rest of the movie. It then moves all the way back to the beginning and talks about how his singing and dancing really began - it talks about his father and how he was treated by his father. It talks about how he was bullied because of his nose by his own brothers. It also goes through how his look changed over time with his clothes becoming evermore flamboyant.

The next part of the documentary goes through the fateful Pepsi Commercial and the kind of scars it left on Michael Jackson; physically, emotionally and mentally. The time at which he started taking painkillers was fixated on as well as this was the exact time. It wasn't his fault and yet, when his face began to change because of the burns, because of the bullying and because of the addiction to drugs - everyone blamed him even though it was the fault of those around him.

It then goes through his unstoppable music career and the way people treated him later into the 90s. The treatment of Michael Jackson was something that I cannot believe one human being would do to another. They first accused him of disgusting crimes that anyone except for Michael Jackson would commit. If you're going to accuse someone of that sort of thing then don't let it be the nicest man on the planet. Michael Jackson, in the eyes of many even today, is the world's nicest, sweetest and most incredible human being. The fact that someone tried to accuse him of pedophilia still baffles me into laughter to this day. These idiots need to listen to themselves. But, even though they were lies, they still had a profound impact on his life and he became more and more dependent on drugs. This also, mixed with the drugs from the accident on the Pepsi Commercial, meant that Michael Jackson was slowly dying from the very beginning - he was just dying a little bit quicker now.

Finally, it goes through his final year alive and the "This Is It" announcement and rehearsals. Apparently, rehearsals were nothing like they were on the movie "This Is It" (made as a tribute to Michael Jackson and the tour that never came to be). Instead, Michael Jackson was constantly late or never showed up to rehearsals, he was absent and physically he was frail. But, on the 24th of June, 2009 - Michael Jackson apparently gave the greatest dance performance of the entire year on that stage in front of those people. He danced like he was 21 again and in that moment, everyone knew that Michael Jackson was back. On the 25th of June, 2009 - the very next day - Michael Jackson was dead.

It goes through why he died and why Conrad Murray was ultimately to blame in the court. He was tried and convicted of manslaughter and in the end, we finally got an answer - or did we? We still don't know why Michael Jackson, giving the greatest performance of his rehearsals the day before he died, dropped dead whilst asleep only less than 24 hours later. We still don't know why he was so worried about doing the AEG 50 shows and said he'd only signed up to do 10. We still don't know why he was in so much debt and ultimately why he took so many drugs all the time - even after he retreated to his mansion, refusing to come out for years. There's still so many questions that we don't have answers for and though we want answers for them, we should probably just leave him be - we've done enough damage to him.

Advantages

The advantages of this documentary are many, so here are a few to wet your appetite for this movie:

- It goes through the theories surrounding his death as well as the death itself

- It goes through the final year of his life and how his physical state descended and so, it is easy to see how the death is occurring and put it into perspective

- It gives a good overview on everything, from his life and music, to his personal life and his final years. This shows that it is a documentary aimed mostly at new fans - but it is still pretty damn good

- It has people who actually knew him talking about him as well as experts in certain topics so that we can see, in greater perspective, the difference in thought processes. For example: the experts warn us about the effects of the various drugs he was taking whilst the people who knew him couldn't get him off them because the answer was simply "okay fine, you try saying 'no' to Michael Jackson when he asks for something..." It is a good comparison

- It even shows parts of Conrad Murray's trial - which I thoroughly enjoyed. But I still believe that man should stay in prison for the rest of his life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary to the point that I actually watched it a few times. The narration was informative and good and the people speaking were people who knew him. There were experts, there were facts and not fictions, there was a great deal of information on his life and career as well. Mostly, I feel like this is a documentary for new (or as we in the moonwalker world call them: 'after death' fans - fans who became fans after Michael Jackson died) because of the fact it's the kind of stuff regarding the career that moonwalkers from beforehand would've either known or experienced first hand. (For example: the after death fans wouldn't have experienced seeing the "This Is It" chant and shouting along when it came on TV but the others would have). It's a fitting documentary to fill them in and make them a part of our ever-growing moonwalker family. And I hope they love and enjoy watching Michael sing and dance, watching him and learning about his virtues and ultimately (because he too, was human), his vices.