Documentary - Amy

During our A2 Media studies, we have been concentrating on British music, and in particular the case stusy of Amy Winehouse. Therefore, in order to get a better insight and understanding about the singer, we watched the documentary Amy. This being a 2015 British documentary film about the life and death of the British singer-songwriter. It was directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, George Pank, and Paul Bell and co-produced by Krishwerkz Entertainment, On The Corner Films, Playmaker Films, and Universal Music in association with Film 4. 

The film covers Winehouse's life and her struggle with substance abuse, both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The movie presents us with the reality behind all the flashing lights and "amazing rich" being, that the celebrities have to live out every single day. Amy's daily struggles were dismissed even by the people who were the closest to her, especially when her father decided that she does not need to go to Rehab (inspired her to write the song"Rehab") even though doing so might have helped to stop the further development of her addiction and so preventing further break down and maybe even death. Later on in the movie, we are also presented with her father in the dark light once more, when he visited his daughter on vacation with a camera crew so that he would be able to record his own show, not taking it into account that Amy was struggling and only wanted her family close to her. The pain she felt through this as well as the drive for money within her father was even more highlighted when Amy said that if he wants the money she can just give it to him.

Furthermore, the way Amy is treated by her manager and even family, when her career develops higly, implies to us how selfish the industry really is. The artists have no say in what they really want and even if they do, none of if is taken into account, an example being shows when Amy was "forced" to go to Serbia for a show by being carried on to a plane while being asleep drunk. She hiwever, was able to stand up to the situation and decided to not perform while walking around the stage. This clearly angered the management as straight away the rest of her tour was cancelled. In addition, this scene in the movie also shows that the audience are not consideret of the artists and their well-being as it was known publicly that Amy was struggling yet the audience can be heard to shout remarks such as "you either sing or give me my money back." 

Overall, I think that the movie is a great and very deep documentary and should be watched by everyone, not only fans of Amy Winehouse. This is because it shows us how difficult being a celebrity really is and how far reality is from what we are shown in the media.