Review: I Am Heath Ledger
Blu-ray & DVD: I Am Heath Ledger (2017)
Heath Ledger died at only 28 years old, leaving behind a filmography and a passion for creativity that had him on a trajectory to accomplish so much more. I Am Heath Ledger tells the story of his life, incorporating video and photographs from cameras that were always in his hands, as well as stories from his friends and family.
I’ve been a fan of Heath Ledger since I first watched The Patriot in 2000. My appreciation of his work grew even more when the quirky A Knights Tale hit the screens a year later, so it was with great anticipation when I pressed ‘play’ on this disc.
The first thing of note is that this really should be called “I Am/Was Heath Ledger’s Friend/Family”. Despite including home video footage and photographs by Heath, this is definitely not a personal introspective dialogue by the man himself as he shot the footage, rather a celebration of his life by those he left behind. Even saying that, Heath comes across as a periphery character in his own story, as friends and family concentrate on how he changed THEIR lives, rather than going more into detail about HIS life.
There is no doubt from watching I Am Heath Ledger that he was a talented, creative, driven and generous person. It’s just that (probably from a misgiven preconception given by the title) I expected so much more from it.
The photographs and videos that Heath has left behind are certainly very interesting (though to play devils advocate with myself, there is quite a bit of repetition of the footage) and help to give a flavour of his lust for life, though nothing ever really digs as deep as I wanted it too. Even his sad demise is skirted over rather quickly, as is his early years…within about 5 minutes of the documentary starting he has already moved from Australia to America and has got his 1st movie role. I’d have loved to have heard more about his childhood and upbringing.
I Am Heath Ledger is certainly a ‘must watch’ for all fans of his, if only to hear the impact he had on so many people. I just feel that the ultimate story of his life is still to be made.
I Am Heath Ledger will be released on 22nd January 2018 and you can buy it by clicking HERE. ALL money raised by purchasing from Amazon via our website is given back to our listeners and followers in upcoming competition prizes. The more people buy, the bigger our prizes.
Review by Dave (co-host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Aim Publicity.