Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Film myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.According to the British Board of Film Classification, the rockumentary Becoming Led Zeppelin contains \u201cbrief moderate violence\u201d and \u201cdrug references\u201d. How can this be? A glance at John Bonham\u2019s index entry in the book Hammer of the Gods \u2014 \u201cheroin use\u201d, \u201cMonte Carlo gun incident\u201d, \u201cstripping onstage\u201d, \u201cviolent behaviour of\u201d, and so on \u2014 indicates how unbecoming of Led Zeppelin this milksop warning is.But there is method to the lack of madness. Unlike Stephen Davis\u2019s no-holds-barred 1985 tome,\u00a0Becoming Led Zeppelin\u00a0is an official biography. Its chronology sidesteps the excesses, actual and apocryphal, of the gods of rock\u2019s pomp in the 1970s. Double-necked guitars, 30-minute drum solos, a private jet named The Starship, scandalous\u00a0activities with groupies, one infamously underage in Jimmy Page\u2019s case \u2014 the film turns its gaze away from all that.Directed by Bernard MacMahon (American Epic), it dedicates itself to recounting the band\u2019s rise. We see Zeppelin emerge from the black-and-white rubble of postwar Britain (footage of bomb sites, Queen Elizabeth II) to capture the hearts, and other body parts, of the technicolour US (aerial shots of tall buildings, close-ups of suggestively smiling young women at gigs). It ends in 1969 with the chart-topping triumph of their second album, Led Zeppelin II.Filmed separately, Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones sit in baronial oak chairs surrounded by the high Victorian decor with which Page is besotted. Bonham, who died in 1980 aged 32 after an alcohol binge, is present in the form of a previously unheard audio interview. The wild man drummer talks in an unexpectedly soft voice. The others, ranging in age now from 76 (Plant) to 81 (Page), reminisce as though stoking a glowing fire during a genial evening of anecdotage.The story they tell is the standard authorised version of Led Zeppelin. Page and Jones, precociously talented session musicians in 1960s London, team up with Plant and Bonham, roisterers from the Midlands gig circuit. They create a form of psychedelic blues-rock that sends every needle to red. A deal with Atlantic Records in New York allows unusual autonomy, brokered by man-mountain manager Peter Grant. (Now dead, he looms mutely in old photos, imposingly silent.)\u00a0Their self-funded debut album is savaged by snooty critics: \u201cweak, unimaginative songs\u201d according to Rolling Stone. But the American public gets it. Much touring ensues, and the start of the band\u2019s reputation for depravity. The film chooses not to inquire. Cue the rueful play of a naughty smile from Plant.The reticence is disingenuous, but also a form of schadenfreude. The master-musicianship that the press initially overlooked, and which the tales of bad behaviour obscure, is front and centre here. A hint of Page\u2019s occultism comes when the guitarist describes his guitar as resembling Excalibur (\u201cthe mythical sword\u201d) and cheerily lauds their song \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d as \u201cpositively evil\u201d. Mostly, however, he goes on about studio techniques and his session pro\u2019s resentment of the top 40 singles format.But then we see their younger selves perform \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d in 1969. Plant yowls with a highly sexualised charisma, vocals pushed to the chaotic edge of distortion. Page bows his Excalibur, conjuring malevolent but controlled shrieks. Jones lays down a wonderfully supple bass groove. Bonham, aka Bonzo, batters his drums (this is the \u201cbrief moderate violence\u201d, presumably). An impeccable sound mix brings out detailing of cymbals and rimwork, signs of his percussive technique; also Page\u2019s studio obsessiveness.Becoming Led Zeppelin abounds in such electric moments, with songs played in full rather than chopped up. They are what we take as we exit the band\u2019s company. The sight and sound of the foursome in full flow, doing breathtaking exercises in brinkmanship: what could be more becoming of Led Zeppelin?\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606In UK and US cinemas now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Film myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.According to the British Board of Film Classification, the rockumentary Becoming Led Zeppelin contains \u201cbrief moderate violence\u201d and \u201cdrug references\u201d. How can this be? A glance at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204126,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204124\/revisions\/204126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}