BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN: a first -rate rockumental (critic)
A meticulous story, scholarly and full of overexciting archives which recounts the flight of the Led Zeppelin group in the Sixties.
As its name suggests, Becoming Led Zeppelin does not tell the story of the legendary British rock group from A to Z, but focuses on its training – of the rigorous constitution of this gang of musicians gifted by the conductor Jimmy Page to his orbit in 1969 , thanks to the release of his first two albums. It is a first -rate rockumentary, for the simple reason that its director Bernard MacMahon has only one thing in mind: music. He wants to make her heard and make her understand. His film tells in detail the “vision” of the page, his dreams of an electric epic – the man compares his guitar to the Magic Excalibur sword. The three survivors of the group testify (John Bonham, the drummer who died in 1980, intervenes in off, via an unprecedented interview), they are of a crazy class and intelligence, but it is above all the use of the archives, Precise, meticulous, which strikes. The live sequences selected by MacMahon cut the breath. Before that, the film will have taken the time to portray the cultural context that enabled the airship to take off, bringing together the whole English music scene from the Sixties (page and bassist John Paul Jones were renowned studio musicians and played for the London swinging cream). This long intro takes on its full meaning when, suddenly, the music of Led Zep sounds, explodes and that the film manages to make us feel the stupor who seizes the world listening to this astounding surge of sonic fury.
By Bernard MacMahon. Duration 2h02. Released February 26, 2025
