In Bed with Madonna

As a documentary, this movie is excellent. It takes us behind the scenes of one of the most successful and most elaborate music tours produced in recent times. We take a peek at Madonna's private life including her likes and dislikes, her friends, her hectic schedule, and her incredible ambition of staying at the top. But most importantly, we take a close look at how she influences everyone around her. Madonna fans, especially those that attended the Blond Ambition Tour, will really enjoy Truth or Dare.

As a simple concert video, this one is above average. But the title is very misleading. First let's deal with the 'truth' aspect. Madonna's friends pop in on her - Warren Beatty, Sandra Bernhart - but you get little in the way of glimpses into her relationships with others. You see Madonna playing Mother Hen to her backup performers, but you get the sense that she isn't very close to any of them. Thus, even though this is supposed to be an expose of Madonna's true private life, there is so little of this on screen that the audience is denied a genuine insider's view. And when Madonna deals with the business aspects of her tour, the boardroom door closes on the camera and the audience. This aspect of the life of a performer so well known for her product-image management might potentially be the most fascinating part of the tour, but the audience is kept outside. And compared to some of what Madonna has done on the screen, this is so far below her usual standards of shock as to hardly qualify as 'daring'. It is worth a watch, but beware of a stretching of the 'truth' when it comes to packaging.

It's 1990 on Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour. She, her circle of dancers, and performers travel from Japan to North America and all around the world. It has behind-the-scenes as well as her concert performances. There are her friends and family. Her brother is hanging around and she goes to her mother's grave. In Toronto, the cops threaten to charge her for indecency. It's mostly filmed in black and white. The thing about Madonna is one is never sure about when the performance starts and ends. I doubt she's completely faking anything but she can be overly dramatic. When cops show up in Toronto, they do imply a threat but one can see a glint in her eyes where she sees an opportunity to rally around the first amendment. There is the dancer faux boyfriend and a girl claiming rape. One can never be sure about anything with Madonna.

Nothing surprising is revealed in this documentary. Perhaps ten years ago, when the film came out, it stunned many fans and non-fans. But Madonna has remained in the spotlight ever since, and thanks to magazines, interviews, MTV, VH-1, not to mention her music, video, book and film work since 1991, we've seen most of the stuff in this documentary already. Plus, Madonna shows us only what she wants us to see. There are a few moments when the camera suddenly shuts off, like when she confesses that Sean Penn was the love of her life. She also talks about her huge crush on Antonio Banderas, and when he snubs her, she jokingly admits that she will never work with him (obviously she was kidding because she worked with him in Evita). When she's playful and in good spirits, she's fun to watch. But in the end, this is really a vanity project, instead of the completely "naked" documentary it was supposed to be. That probably suits her diehard fans just fine, but regular viewers are hoping to see more than her "attitude" backstage, long footage of her explicit onstage material, constant vulgarity, and high-maintenance daily rituals.

This is a wonderful documentary. It shows the ups and downs of being a rock star. Essential to fans.