Tina

Tina (2021)

Directors:  Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin. Cast: Angela Bassett, Tina Turner, Oprah Winfrey, Ike Turner, Erwin Bach, Kurt Lode.

A great Tina Turner fan may see this documentary differently probably wanting to see more or to hear more, but as a casual Turner listener and somebody who was obvious to most of what I’ve just seen this was almost the perfect biography. It gave me enough to understand her greatness, her achievements, her story and get inside her mind like very few of these types of film do. Right from the start when she announces that her life wasn’t a good life and that the “bad” outdid the “good” you just sit up and listen. This is as candid and insightful as some of the best documentaries can get and by the time the ending comes along and you’ve been on the full journey I have to confess I found the epilogue overwhelmingly emotional.This is a survival story. A celebration of a truly remarkable woman, from the time when she first appeared on TV, performed in Las Vegas, through a nightmare which never seemed to finish, to her amazing comeback as a middle-aged woman and ending with her performing to a massing crowd of 186,000 people in Rio: it’s Inspiring, moving, empowering.

The documentary has some great archive material and some really strong interviews with only the people who matter.At times it’s slightly repetitious and it could have done with a few trims, but the end point is so strong that I was able to forgive it all.

On Sky in the UK and HBO in the US.