Finding Michael Review [Disney+] – Review in FilmTotaal

Director: tom beard | Time to play: 100 minutes | Year: 2023

Spencer Matthews is a former reality star and businessman. With a snow-white toothpaste smile and a trained body, he has just the right look. Spencer is married to a model, has two children, and a third is on the way. But Spencer also has a sensitive side, because he has to cry. The Lion King. And oh yes, he also lost his brother Michael over twenty years ago when he was the youngest Briton to die while climbing Mount Everest.

It’s hard not to get cynical from the opening minutes of the Disney+ documentary find michael. Unfortunately, this sentiment remains prominent for the entire hundred minutes. Here we see a family man who has lived through something traumatic and has many questions, but in the meantime, like the viewers of him, fully disguised and expressing his emotions in a controlled way. He doesn’t say a word about Michael’s fame and reputation, but he puts things in a certain light and requires a disclaimer.

The reason for the documentary is still quite attractive: almost twenty years after his disappearance, a vague photo of a body on the mountain appears. Since the photo was taken at the place where Michael disappeared in 1999 and the clothing in the photo resembles the clothing worn by the young mountaineer, the suspicion is raised that it may be Michael here.

Spencer decides to travel to Nepal in hopes of bringing her brother’s remains back to Scotland. This is followed by a grueling journey to the base camp at an altitude of 5,300 meters, after which there is still a long way to go. This search is interspersed with interviews with those involved and scarce archival images of Michael, which are juxtaposed with the mission of his brother. Spencer has his soul purified with the monks and tracks his brother’s movements.

What could have been an emotional search for answers has become a succession of beautiful images that would not be out of place in an adventure movie or in a National Geographic issue. Of course, it’s nice that director Tom Beard arranged it so technically perfectly, but he also pushes the core of this documentary into the background. Everything seems so orchestrated and clear that you wonder who it is. Constantly stressing how hellish the mission is doesn’t help either. This does find michael more like Spencer’s ego document.

find michael it’s full of staged photo moments and contemplative glances from a main character who likes being in the picture too much. You even suspect that Spencer records certain conversations in multiple takes. This high degree of artificiality makes it very difficult to empathize. Since Spencer was ten years old when Michael disappeared, there’s not much to take away from the past, except that Spencer still sees him as the big brother he lost.

It’s easy to forget that find michael revolved around the search for Michael. The personal pronoun ‘I’ is used frequently. It doesn’t matter if someone expresses his feelings, but Beard portrays him in such a way that all the attention is on Spencer and he seems like the epitome of ‘how can I do this for myself?’, especially when he has a noble disposition for the end. strip. This documentary excels when the real professionals take control and the climax literally and figuratively approaches. However, it is a sad observation that this documentary only evokes bitter feelings.

find michael can be seen in Disney+.