(Eagle/Shock)

Has he lost his mind? Yes, probably

Capturing the life and times of dottering sexagenarian and perhaps the most recognisable man in heavy metal, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne retraces the life of none other than Ozzy Osbourne. Before he was Ozzy, he was John, a troubled kid growing up in the poor industrial area of Birmingham, England and turning to alcohol and crime to escape the drudgery of everyday life. Then he became Ozzy Osbourne, the Black Sabbath frontman and bat killing rock & roll legend who turned to alcohol and drugs to escape the drudgery of being a multi-millionaire. Recounting his attempts to get sober while glorifying the myth of his hard-partying ways, the documentary focuses on Ozzy’s struggles with alcohol, cocaine and prescription medication. Watching the film recounting Ozzy’s flirtations with rehab and subsequent relapses, I find myself considering how long does a star have to be sober before his sobriety can be documented? Vince Neil published an autobiography about getting sober and finally settling down his life, then within a year he was in jail for drink driving, divorced from his wife and charged with battery and disorderly conduct. While Ozzy’s recent run of sobriety has gained more steam than his Motley Crue counter-part and the Prince Of Darkness has abstained since his MTV reality show wrapped in 2005, it seems as though it could perhaps be detrimental to celebrate such a relatively newfound strength. But if you’re not interested the documentary subject’s physical and mental state, if you just want to hear stories of carnage, tits and rock & roll madness, then God Bless Ozzy Osbourne has what you’re after in spades. Most people manage to get their shit together before they’re 60 years old. Then again, most people didn’t write songs like Iron Man and Paranoid, so you’ve got to cut Ozzy Osbourne some slack, God bless him.

***½

TOM HERSEY

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