You have to applaud Lee, because his new film is a terrifically warm, affectionate and celebratory study of the “Bad” album. Lee wants to clear away the tabloid smoke and spite, and bring the focus back to Jackson’s professionalism, his craftsmanship, his artistry and his pop genius; the movie defiantly insists that Jackson was and is superior to his detractors.
The documentary’s final image is taken from film of his famous July 16, 1998 concert at Wembley Stadium in England of the “Bad Tour.” Jackson finishes singing “Man in the Mirror,” which proved the biggest radio hit from his catalog in the immediate wake of his passing. It was a song that has become posthumously Jackson’s unofficial anthem; but the closing image was particularly important to Spike Lee as Jackson throws back his arms and head in a final flourish.
“I am not going to say Michael was Jesus Christ,” Lee told a news conference at the festival. “But if you look at the performance, he was somewhere else. That was one of the greatest performances, ever, ever, ever. He is not of this world.”
Lee deliberately left a glorious and simultaneously disturbing image on the screen for all to see, and it was “Bad” 25 years after; the image captured pain and glory.
In all its duality, “Bad 25? will remarkably be one of Spike Lee’s most masterfully timeless legacies for humanity to ponder the gifts it receives and self-reflect on its own deeds
Leave a Reply