Such a sad ending, and unfortunately non-fiction!

The documentary Amy, which was about Amy Winehouse, started with Amy being born to a Jewish family in North London and how her life and music career developed leading both to her fame and destruction. The documentary included lots of “home-made” video clips of Amy at various times in her life, along with her music and the stories behind what inspired her to write these songs. The movie depicts how Amy being so young and talented became famous rapidly and how she could not handle the fame. It was so sad to see how being addicted to alcohol and drugs were preventing her from going further in her career (and more selfishly, preventing her from creating more of the beautiful music she was capable of). Of course, at the source of all of this was the clearly dysfunctional family life Amy experienced as a child, her tortured relationship with her Mom, and her relationship with her Dad who seemed to have a strong desire to ride on Amy’s fame for his own gain. The resulting deep depression, her destructive relationship with her long-time boyfriend who was also heavily dependent on drugs, and her inability to deal with all the attention and pressures that come along with fame, seem to have created a perfect storm for her sad demise. The abuse her body had taken from all the drugs and alcohol made her quite fragile, so even though at times she got closer to being “clean”, any slip ups put her in grave danger. Unfortunately, there are too many cases where fame and fortune end up having quite a negative impact ultimately leading to an individual’s demise and too often early death. Although the movie was quite sad as you watch the demise of a young and extremely talented woman, it was great to listen again to Amy’s songs such as “Rehab” and “Stronger than Me” and learn more about her life and what motivated those songs.

 

Leave a Reply