This past Friday, “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” directed by Bernard MacMahon, was released exclusively to IMAX cinemas.
As the title describes, this documentary details the early years of the Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham.
The stories of the band’s beginnings are told in first hand accounts from the band members, including an exclusive interview from Bonham from the 80s.
Bonham was known to not participate in many interviews and this documentary plays this interview for the band members and audiences for the first time.
Between the interviews, the bands first performances are shown alongside audience reactions and newly released footage.
Band members Plant, Page and Jones detail their early days during the aftermath of World War II. Audience members learn of Zeppelin’s first inspirations, such as the movements of American blues and folk music.
The documentary continues with band members discussing their first jobs, gigs and what brought them all together. Through the interviews, audiences are informed on the movement of the early days of being The Yardbirds to becoming Led Zeppelin.
Garret Vanderbunt, a junior Film and Digital Media major at the University of North Georgia said, “What makes a good documentary is stunning and spectacular B-roll and amazing interviews with even better questions.”
The documentary used B-roll visuals of big movements and events, such as footage of the first moon landing alongside footage of the concert Zeppelin was playing during Neil Armstrong’s first steps.
Vanderbunt praised the structure of the documentary, saying it showed a traditional interview style where the participants “tell their story and the audience gets to watch them through their own personal accounts.”
Band members reminisce on their lives as well as the differences between Britain and America’s first reactions to their new music and how they lived while balancing tour life and family life.
“I would recommend this documentary to fans of Led Zeppelin or anyone who cares about music history. It was so interesting viewing their story through lenses most people don’t get to see.” – Garret Vanderbunt, junior UNG film major
For Vanderbunt, watching the movie was like talking to his mom about the stories of the 70s but with visuals. He says he loved the use of the reconstructed audio and videos from the 50s and 60s.
Vanderbunt criticized the length of the film, saying it could have been an hour shorter to make it more condensed or an hour longer and add more detail.
Movie-goer Carly Diver said the film was “very illustrative of the dynamic of the band members.”
Diver said she would recommend this movie to audiences as it was informational on the upbringing of the band and detailing how Jimmy Page was “essentially the backbone of the band.”
The film has a 74% critic rating and a 94% audience rating from Rotten Tomatoes as of Feb. 11.
In 2021, a “work-in-progress” showing of this film was screened at the Venice Film Festival receiving a 10-minute standing ovation. IMAX held early screenings beginning on Feb. 5 in nearly 18 markets.
