I remember going to the theater to see this first-of-its-kind (not really), documentary Truth or Dare. It's hard to believe it was 25 years ago - holy cow! Am I really that old? Oh yeah.
I was definitely a Madonna fan but, as the years have gone by, I guess you could say my interest in her has generally faded. However, there are times when her name comes up and I will read an article or watch a performance (The Super Bowl being the last). This last week, I had come upon a recent interview that Madonna did with Howard Stern.
The English accent of hers was gone and while the interview by itself is worthy of review, the topic of Truth or Dare and its 25 year anniversary caught my attention. I thought I'd go back and watch it.
For a small fee of 3 dollars, I rented this on YouTube.
When I had watched it before, I was only in high school so I didn't put much thought into this documentary at all. Maybe it was because I was too young or maybe I just didn't care. I remember I enjoyed it. I liked the performances but, I do remember thinking Madonna was a little bizarre and obnoxious.
Now that I have taken the time to re-watch it, I noticed a few things I didn't notice before and yes, Madonna is still obnoxious.
The film goes back and forth between black and white and color. The black and white parts are grainy and cover the scenes that are off-stage, while the colored film is found during Madonna's performances. It covers the time frame of the Blonde Ambition Tour.
The opening scene includes a voice-over from Madonna who is seen picking up a mess in her hotel room, as if a party had just dispersed and Madonna slides into bed, apparently finding no need to use the bathroom, wash her face, and brush her teeth.
The next scene we immediately see an angry Madonna who is frustrated with what appears to be a sound check at rehearsal before a show in Japan. We soon see that the weather is awful and Madonna is forced to perform in the rain.
The film immediately jumps to the United States but the only thing that tells us this is another voice-over from Madonna. This hopping around is found throughout the film and consequently I found myself asking, "Did I miss something?" It's highly disjointed and some parts seem to drop off and never return again; the stories are never brought to a conclusion. So often I wanted to know what happened next?
Madonna also has two hair styles during this tour. One is a long blonde pony tail which is a hair extension affixed with a braided hair piece that wraps around the base of the pony tail. The other style consists of short tight blonde curls.
Madonna immediately lets us know she identifies herself as being a motherly figure for her dancers and staff. The film then cuts to their real mothers coming to visit them and Madonna is excited to meet them all. Of course she later carries on about how all of her dancers have suffered in some way and her only desire has been to love them and give them the opportunity of a lifetime.
Interestingly enough Madonna refers to Chicago as a conservative town. I'm not sure where she got that idea?? I don't remember Chicago being conservative, not now and not 25 years ago.
So we're about 15 minutes in and we have yet to see Madonna being anything other than in full-control. There is nothing revealing and certainly nothing that gives the audience any in-depth perception of who she is.
Now enters the dancer Ollie, who claims to be the only straight male dancer (although this is questionable), and we see him waiting to meet his father. Interestingly there is no mention of his mother or where she is, or why she wasn't there? Here again, we have no understanding and this topic doesn't come up again.
The film cuts to Oh Father and the camera angles force us to question if this was actually filmed at a live performance.
Cut to Madonna's hotel room and Madonna is slurping her soup and talking to her dad on the phone. She demands he tell her if he's coming to the show, how many tickets he wants, and who is coming with him.
Now comes the technical problems - during Madonna's performance of Keep it Together we can hear her mic cut in and out. Then backstage, Madonna begins yelling at her tech person about the issue she was experiencing but the entire scene looks staged.
Finally we get a glimpse of Madonna's eyebrows being touched up, her staff kissing her ass while she complains, and her boy toy - the famous Warren Beatty. Warren is found throughout the documentary but at some point he just drops off and we never hear from him again.
Kevin Costner comes back stage and makes the mistake of telling Madonna her show was "neat" which prompted Madonna to turn around and simulate puking with a finger in her mouth.
The next scene shows Madonna getting ready for some event and calling Warren to find out his whereabouts, she then slams the phone down calling him an a--h---.
The film jumps again and we are in Toronto. Madonna who is sporting her pony tail, is approached by her brother who tells her that her actions (feign masturbation) found during the song of Like a Virgin will prompt the police to arrest her after the show because in Canada this is considered an immoral live performance. Madonna tells her dancers and they all pray in a circle. Madonna leads the prayer but the prayer seems to address her dancers directly rather than addressing the Lord.
Madonna is never seen happier during this film. She is almost giddy like a child and tells everyone that she will not change her show. She is an artist who is expressing herself. She will not compromise her artistic integrity.
What is interesting is that while the film does show Madonna performing Like a Virgin, the version they show is one where Madonna is sporting her tight curls, not the long pony tail we just saw her clearly wearing in the previous scene. So why did they not show the actual performance that she did in Toronto? The film then cuts to a news clip which shows her performing with her long pony tail and it's reported that the police found nothing wrong and they did not arrest her.
The entire episode in Toronto seems staged. I have no idea why the police would even bother unless Madonna were actually performing sex or a sexual act in the flesh there would be no cause for her to be arrested. The way she carried on about being an artist and expressing herself was just self-serving.
In Detroit, we see Madonna bring her father onstage and she asks everyone to sing Happy Birthday for him. Her father and I guess her step mom (no indication is made), come back to what we assume is her green room. Madonna explains that she bowed at her father's feet onstage because she forgot to buy her father a birthday present!
We then see that Madonna is expecting her brother Marty to arrive for a visit, but she is whispering to some guy about how to handle him when he arrives. There is of course no reason for her to whisper; it's all weird and once again staged. Marty apparently had/has an issue with alcohol and at this time had a recent stint in a rehab.
Marty later explains to the audience that he had some trouble getting to the hotel; he eventually arrived but very late and missed Madonna because she had already retired for the evening.
Almost an hour in and once again we have another staged scene. Madonna has yet to show any vulnerability. Madonna first tells her make-up artist Sharon that she used to beat up on girls like her in high school. Then she says that Sharon reminds her of Moira McFarland, an old friend of hers. It would be later confirmed that this woman was contacted and her presence in the film was thrown upon Madonna at the last minute.
Moira McFarland is introduced to Madonna who is apparently so busy she can't take even a minute of her time to sit down with her old childhood friend. Moira gives Madonna a painting and tells her that she is pregnant again and wants Madonna to be the Godmother. Madonna tells her thank you but, she simply cannot answer her at this moment. She quickly removes herself with another "thank you" for the painting and an exchange of love you's. Moira then tells us how much she loves Madonna and how she loved Madonna's mother. We never do find out if Madonna accepts her plea to be the child's Godmother.
Now we are at the famous scene where Madonna decides to lay down on her mother's grave and speculate that her mom is probably just a bunch of dust at this point. Her brother Christopher would later state that this moment is where he truly began to question his sister and see her in a different way saying that nothing was off-limits for his sister. I have yet to see anyone give this scene a positive review. In fact this scene seems to truly repulse anyone who has watched it. I'm not sure what Madonna had in mind doing this scene in the first place. Her mother died when Madonna was only five years old. Her memories of her mother would be few and while it's reasonable for her to visit her mother's grave whenever she is in town, it is highly inappropriate for her to film the event.
The next scene might offer some insight as to why her and Warren split up. Madonna is forced to cancel some shows because she has lost her voice. A doctor is visiting her at a hotel and I believe she is in New York at this point. Even though her hair is in a towel, appearing freshly showered, her make-up is fully done, flawlessly. Beatty makes quite a few comments about how crazy it is she is doing all this stuff on camera and how insane the environment is. Madonna clearly loves it and seems to disregard any point he is trying to make. Warren might as well be an inanimate object in Madonna's world. This will be the last we see of him in the film.
One of her dancers appears on a radio show where the host asks her about a tabloid that says Madonna dumped Warren for a dancer - Ollie. She denies the claim but, I guess the audience is to infer the pair did break up, only Madonna is not dating Ollie.
Hands down the most disturbing part of this documentary comes when Madonna is told about her make-up artist Sharon waking up in her hotel with her anus bleeding. She had gone to a club and claims she was not drinking but, clearly she was slipped a roofie or something similar. Madonna's reaction? She laughs. Then she speculates that Sharon must have been telling these guys she met she worked with Madonna and they drugged her and messed with her. Sharon is then seen in the dressing room with the dancers telling them what happened and they express an equal amount of no sympathy. Nobody encourages this woman to go to the police. NOBODY even offers the slightest amount of sympathy or concern for this poor woman. It's appalling and very disturbing.
So while Madonna would like to fancy herself as a mother figure to her dancers and staff, she shows absolutely no inkling of being motherly in this instance. A staff member of hers is drugged and raped and she laughs?
"Oh well," in Madonna's world - the show must go on.
It's hard to watch anything past this point. Madonna is soon back on stage prancing around to the song Holiday and the film just moves along as if nothing happened.
Off to Europe....
Madonna finds herself at odds with the Vatican again. Eventually she cancels some shows because of the animosity.
Sandra Bernhard visits Madonna. Remember her? Ugh. She was famous for about 16 minutes in the late 80's, which was 16 minutes way too long. Madonna tells Sandra she wants to meet Antonio Banderas.
Surprise surprise she meets him and he's married.
The movie begins to wrap up and Madonna is playing the game Truth or Dare with her dancers. She performs a lewd act on a bottle and reveals her true love to be Sean - as in Sean Penn. This is the ONLY scene that is revealing and shows Madonna being sincere. The rest of the movie is really her just trying her best to shock people with her generic, obnoxious humor.
In another scene, Madonna reveals that she's not interested in being a great singer or dancer; she just wants to push people's buttons and be political.
Finally the movie ends with Madonna and her dancers in her bed - completely scripted.
While I did enjoy watching some parts of this film again, it is clear this movie is very different to me watching as an adult.
Now more than ever I realize how truly narcissistic she was. Other people are objects to Madonna. They are to be entertained and should provide entertainment for her, but not to be recognized as having their own feelings and they certainly should not express their feelings to her directly.
On a positive note, Madonna has shown indications in her latest interview that she has indeed grown up in some ways. It's easy to be hard on Madonna and criticize her but it's hard to relate to a person who has been in the public eye for as long as she has been. The woman has literally been worshiped by millions of people across the globe so what can any of us really expect?
What makes her so special? She is right. She's not the best singer; she's never been in an acting role that has amounted to showing any exceptional talent; she's not the greatest dancer. She's mediocre at best. She does manage to keep control over her image and she knows how to manipulate the media and based on this film she definitely knows how to manipulate others around her. She also has a lot of confidence. Maybe we like her because she proves you can be successful and not be the "best." No doubt she does work and she keeps moving forward, no matter what obstacles stand in her way.
Is she a good role model for women? I don't think so. Something tells me that the woman in our country who fought for voting rights and equal treatment were not interested in women taking this power and using it the way Madonna has.
One thing I do like about her is that she never seems to take on the victim-status like so many other celebrities do. She has never found herself in rehab. She is not known for her drug use or alcohol abuse. In fact, she actually seems to take good care of her body and enjoys being healthy.
Love her or hate her, she is an icon in American culture and nothing will change that.
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