Writer and director Kevin Macdonald should be praised for making such an honest, well balanced piece about the great singer Whitney Houston. Many of her inner circle are interviewed, and they do seem to try to tell the truth There would have been a lot of pressure on Macdonald to write a nice, glossy puff piece about America's super sweetheart of the 1980s. But that would have been an injustice to her memory, and to music history. And although Macdonald does cover some big topics - such as Houston's raging drug abuse and allegations she was sexually abused as a child - he never portrays it sensationally. He's more of an investigative journalist, and he is brave enough to ask the uncomfortable questions. One interview with Houston's husband Bobby Brown is illuminating for what Brown refuses to answer rather than what he does say. Brown has come up with a version of the story he can live with, I guess. But Houston faced many other problems that the public didn't see. Being, as a young woman, the boss and source of income to most of her family and friends was obviously a disaster. When she got into drugs, no one was in a position to be very insistent that she go to rehab, or that she take a year off from the relentless pressure of being a global pop star. As a child, Whitney Houston was left at home (and molested, this doco claims) while her mother Cissy was a backing singer. So when Whitney became famous, she wanted her own daughter Bobbi to go on tour with her, to protect her. But tours are not a stable environment for a child, let alone a child in a drug addled household. It's truly heartbreaking to see what eventually happened to Bobbi.
If anyone thinks drugs solve your problems, or make you happy, or relieve stress, maybe they should watch this film. All it shows is that drugs ruin your life, as they did Houston's. She was far too young to die. May she rest in peace.
Review of Whitney
