David Bowie doco puts the music first

Everybody is a David Bowie fan. There’s always that one song you can relate to most. And for those who truly appreciate the broader spectrum of Bowie’s discography, the documentary David Bowie: The Man Who Stole The World is well worth investing in.

Where the near-future is sure to see Bowie’s chequered history – the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll antics – as their main focus, it’s good to have a doco that focuses primarily on the music as a first-taster.

While this means The Man Who Stole The World sometimes across across a glorified press release from a record company, it’s actually not from the artist’s official label but instead manufactured and distributed through Shock Entertainment, who have no record sales agenda – so bias is not there; only the stats and the facts.

That said, the documentary does feature some interesting and rare footage and interview stock plucked from an extraordinary career that spanned five decades.

From Bowie’s big breakthrough in 1972 with his then-outrageous Ziggy Stardust persona, through the glam-rock of the mid-’70s, his dark electronic Low period, the pop highs of the early ’80s and even his Tin Machine rock experimentations, The Man covers pretty much all the music, right through to the artistic high that is Bowie’s swansong LP, Blackstar.

If the producers could have scored copyright quickly to a lot more of the actual music, this documentary would have been epic. As it stands, it’s a great reference for general fans and hardcore trainspotters alike.  Antonino Tati

‘David Bowie: The Man Who Stole The World’ is available through Shock Entertainment.