God Bless Ozzy Osbourne

A heavy metal fan I'm not, the only Ozzy song I know is Sabbath's "Paranoid" and I didn't see a single episode of "The Osbournes" and yet somehow you feel you know this massive personality very well. Broken into two lots pre- and post- his days with Black Sabbath, this bio-documentary covers a lot of ground and does so entertainingly. Even though it's co-produced by his son Jack, it pulls no punches in its true telling of Osbourne's long journey of near self-destruction before he at long last kicked his various habits in his 60's.

Yes, he seems somewhat shambling, even ridiculous at times as he warms up his voice before a gig, but elsewhere, as you'd expect, the man himself is brutally honest in his self-assessment, as indeed are almost all his coterie of family and friends. Of course much of the early scene-setting material comprises celebrity endorsements from members of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Metallica and even Sir Paul McCartney, before the story goes back to his post -war Birmingam roots and takes us chronologically through his larger-than-life and times.

As you can probably tell there isn't much originality in the techniques used to bring Ozzy's story to life, even the act of taking him back to his childhood haunts, which recalls nothing so much as the well-known re-election Party Political Broadcast by the then Tory Prime Minister, John Major. Yes some of the over-the-top segments seem apocryphal, even by Osbourne standards and sure, the relentless loud HM music blasted way over my head much of the time. All his well-documented vices, particularly drink and drugs, are aired without much shame or regret and yet you do believe he's turned the corner himself.

Looking at him today, rather like the other best-known "dead man walking" Keith Richards, you wonder just how he is, to paraphrase Elton John, still standing, but, sanctimonious title apart, this was an intriguing and watchable insight into the life of an old warrior who may just have found peace in his own time, in the nick of time.

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne (2011)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Very good documentary on the life and times of Ozzy Osbourne who is certainly one of a kind. The film covers Ozzy's early days growing up poor and follows him to Black Sabbath, the fame, the drugs, the partying, the solo career and of course his comeback, which itself had many highs and lows. GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE is an appropriate title because if you know anything about the madman then it's really amazing that he survived the 70s. The documentary uses behind the scenes footage mixed in with both past and present interviews as well as news footage. All of this is perfectly mixed together and in the end you really get a great idea of who Ozzy is and why he did some of the crazy stuff that he did. The majority of the running time deals with the craziness, which of course means a lot of wild pranks, drugs and alcohol. There's no question that all of these stories are used for entertainment because as sad as it might be to see a father neglect his children, the crazy lifestyle Ozzy was leading just puts a smile on your face because he survived it all. Had Ozzy died then it's doubtful these same stories would have been as amusing as they are today. We get interviews with his family, friends and fellow musicians who all tell their stories of what Ozzy means to them. At just 91-minutes the documentary goes through pretty much every stone leading up to the musicians current state.

I really enjoyed reading Ozzy Osbourne's biography "I Am Ozzy" and found this movie was a great companion to that book.

Due to reading his biography, I didn't encounter anything new or that I didn't already know about him. If that great book was to be made into a film, then this would be the logical one to be made.

Ozzy Osbourne is a lot more intelligent than most people would realise, which firmly comes across in this movie. Many would be forgiven for thinking this is another "sex, drugs, rock n roll" music doco, but it's more a triumph over adversity tale with great soundtrack! How a bunch of long-haired hoodlums from working-class Birmingham made it big as musicians and pioneered an entire musical genre is inspirational in itself. His resultant battles with addiction and subsequent triumph over these also provide inspiration and unique insight behind the myth.

The crazy rock n roll stories of Ozzy are of course here also, which both add large doses of humour and after a while, sadness and somewhat sympathy.

A must-watch for Ozzy Osbourne and rock music fans!

Some of this isn't new, let's get that out of the way. Many of us know that Ozzy "John" Osbourne came out of dirt poor beginnings in a suburb of Birmingham and had little choice with his life but either work at a factory or become a rock and roll star, so he chose the latter. But as a child with dyslexia and a crippling level of insecurities, he went to drugs and alcohol - LOTS and LOTS of em (he could arguably be one of the only people to go head to head with Keith Richards as far as famous British rock Gods on substances) - and yet kept on with being a major figure in Black Sabbath and his solo years from 1980 onward. He continues, against all odds and some common sense perhaps, to tour to this day.

The documentary, co-produced by Ozzy's son Jack, is flattering on some levels (if nothing else about his stature in the industry and his legions of fans), but it also is absorbing because it shows all of the darkness that he had. And, more importantly (or concurrently), the loss that he had to endure: his first wife and set of kids after a harsh divorce, the passing of his father, the still shocking passing of guitarist Randy Rhodes, and that loss translated into a sense of self-worth. The film is in praise of the man because, despite ALL that he did, including what should have been unforgivable acts against his family (one story involving his wife Sharon shocks me now more than when I first heard it in the Behind the Music special), he kept on going, trying to sober, but never quite getting there - till his kids intervened in the best and worst ways.

I won't say you'll get anything mind-blowingly revelatory (then again this is a shorter cut than what is available elsewhere, i.e. Argentina has a 2 hour version), but it moves at a great pace, uses Ozzy on tour and his own mixed feelings about that as a backbone for the rest of the main story, and of course some of it by its sheer outrageousness is very funny. But some of the things in the film, mostly about the TV show the Osbournes, I was most happy were kept in the film. I like when a documentary can give a whole different perspective on things, and what seemed like a fun if sometimes odd show like the Osbournes was really a horror show when the cameras were off (or were on, as Jack says there's hours of footage of Ozzy as a full-blown alcoholic). If the show ever comes on TV again, and you watch this film, you won't be able to look at it the same way. That's something special.

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is an extensive piece of work that sheds light on the Prince of Darkness himself. Ozzy Osbourne is a cultural and musical icon, pioneering heavy metal with Black Sabbath in the late sixties, introducing an explosive solo career, along with a reality show and raucous tours that fans say will never be matched. The documentary puts Ozzy's success in the background, while his personal troubles, demons, and hardships are placed in the foreground.

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne was born in 1948 in the working class neighborhood of Aston, Birmingham, England. As a teen, he had very few options; go to work in a factory, go to the army, or go to prison. The choice was his. He could never hold down a job and cringed at the thought of working decades in a factory. Like many teens, Ozzy formed a band with his friends, who would later get a small record deal with Warner Bros. to form the band Black Sabbath.

Like mentioned in the documentary, listening to Black Sabbath now, it sounds rather ordinary because all the tricks have been copied over and over again, but in the seventies, it was some of the hardest, roughest, and most engaging rock music ever heard. Ozzy married young and had two kids, Jessica and Louis, both who agree that he was a bad father, distant, unkind, and very, very deranged.

After his divorce, he finally married Sharon Arden, and had three children, Aimee, Jack, and Kelly who would later become the stars of the MTV reality show The Osbournes. Sharon states that living with Ozzy is a roller-coaster. He never seemed to be a fully functional father, always being away on tours, binging on alcohol and drugs (things he has had untold troubles with), not to mention just putting his musical work in front of his family.

Once he was released from Sabbath, Ozzy pursued a solo-career, one of unmatchable talent. He became the "Prince of Darkness," hosting tours that were dark, eerie, and unpredictable, and began releasing heavy metal records that were unique and stylistic.

One thing that is frequently brought up in the documentary is how insecure Ozzy truly is. He was the clown character of Black Sabbath, and Sharon states he acted that way to try and cover up his insecurities. It too seems that his erratic drug use is a response to all his regrets and missed opportunities in life. The series The Osbournes may have been funny to watch, due to it being rather all over the place, but as said by Jack Osbourne, it truly tore the family apart. Everyone began using drugs.

As of today, Ozzy is stone cold sober. He has himself together, he is working on resurrecting his solo career (his latest album Scream is a definite winner), and he is trying desperately to be the real father to his children, all of which, even Jessica and Louis, he maintains a healthy relationship with. God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, which was produced by his son Jack, is a nicely composed documentary, but I have a feeling that this is nothing eye-opening to a lot of Ozzy fans. For me, someone who thought they knew more about the man than they did, it colored things in and even took me outside the lines, but hardcore fans of the prince may find it to be obvious, repetitive, and unnecessary.

Starring: Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, Aimee Osbourne, Jessica Osbourne, and Louis Osbourne. Directed by: Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli.