There
are trade-offs to having a documentary where nearly all of the
information comes from close friends and family. While there
is bound to be
information that is new and personal, only attainable by those
extremely close to the subject, there is also the danger of
a skewed view of this
information as well. This becomes a problem in the extremely
personal look at Elvis in Elvis by the Presleys. The documentary
gives a great look into
the personal life of Elvis, but in order to see things clearly
it often requires reading between the lines. Even as Elvis’s
faults are spoken of his
family members and friends turn it around to make it seem as
though there was nothing wrong with it. It is admirable that
the family has decided to
open up and share about Elvis, but viewers must realize that
many of these views are biased and can’t be trusted completely.
As well
as intimate interviews with Priscilla and Lisa Marie, the documentary
features performance footage from every stage performance of
Elvis’s career. Whether just a quick look or an entire
song, these glances at Elvis performing at different stages
in his career are bound to be the
highlight for true fans. This mixed in with clips from newsreels
and interviews give Elvis a voice, and these moments are the
most honest in the
documentary.
The documentary
is split up into topics, moving gradually through Elvis’s
career, sometimes moving backwards. The first section deals
with Elvis’s
time in the service, where he met Priscilla. She was a young
child and he was ten years older than her when they met, which
is justified over and over
again by Priscilla and her parents, but the whole thing still
sounds a little strange. Had he not been Elvis, it seems that
Priscilla’s parents never would have been so understanding.
A great deal of the time in the documentary is spent examining
this relationship, mostly because Priscilla was the closest
to Elvis and she provides much of the commentary on him. While
Lisa also gives some insight, it seems she does so sparingly
and
bitterly.
Perhaps
one of the largest missed opportunities in the list of topics
is time spent discussing Elvis’s demise. While there is
some discussion about
his fall into depression and dependence on drugs, it is mostly
glossed over quickly. The close friends and family of Elvis
obviously don’t want to let
his darker side be seen.
The documentary
is split up into chapter stops by sections on the DVD, but some
are only seven minutes while others are close to an hour long.
This
might make it difficult to find a specific spot. The eleven
sections are split up onto two discs, with over four hours of
footage. The second disc
also has four special features, which have more extra footage
of Elvis doing karate and meeting Nixon.
A great
deal of the documentary is fascinating, and it truly shows a
new side of Elvis. There is, however, the problem of too much
of the material being repeated continuously by each friend of
Elvis. This makes for a slightly too long documentary, however
good it might be.
