Critics love the new Amy Winehouse documentary. The film Amy focuses more on how much of a talented singer she was and how she was troubled and not a total mess. However, the Winehouse family doesn’t believe the film is being completely honest. Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father, says that the film is misleading and that it portrays the family not trying to help Amy.
He said,
“They have selectively edited what I said to suggest that me and my family were against her getting any kind of treatment. We took her dozens of times to detox and rehab over the years.”
Amy Winehouse struggled with addiction and died from accidental alcohol poisoning in July 2011. She was 27 when she died.
The film’s director, Asif Kapadia, stands by what he has made. He says that he based the movie off of 100 plus interviews that he conducted to get a rounded portrait of the singer. For the film, Kapadia would use the voice overs of the interviews during some videos of her concerts or of pictures of Amy. This way, they were more comfortable to speak openly about her.
Still, the family feels very let down by the film. Amy’s father went onto say,
“The film portrays Amy as in a downward spiral from 2008 to 2011. They don’t want people to understand that in that last three years there were some terrible times, but there were some wonderful times.”
Kapadia responded stating that the movie is, “not about them. It’s about her.” He says he’s not trying to blame anyone for the death of the singer, who also battled depression and bulimia. Life is much more complicated. I have depression in my family. I have mental illness in my family. It’s not simple.”
The documentary Amy will be available in America and Britain on Friday.
Image: Via Flickr/IVO GARCEV
