Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger — Review

This is the best music documentary I have ever seen.

That might sound like an enormous statement, but Don’t Look Back in Anger completely justified it for me. This could easily have been a straightforward celebration of the Oasis reunion: huge crowds, famous songs and impressive concert footage. Instead, it has real purpose. It gives us access to the band in a way we have rarely, if ever, seen before.

More importantly, underneath everything surrounding Oasis, this is a remarkably human film about two brothers.

The rehearsal sequence is the standout.

We see just how instrumental Noel is to the entire operation and how much he cares about the execution of the show. But as the moment approaches when Liam will enter the room, the atmosphere completely changes. The anticipation is almost uncomfortable.

When Liam finally walks in, the cinematography captures something I found genuinely fascinating. Noel is standing in the background watching him, and for a few seconds he almost looks starstruck by his own brother.

Considering their history and the years they spent apart, there is an extraordinary vulnerability to that moment. They both appear nervous, but very little needs to be said. Liam arrives, the band starts playing and suddenly they are Oasis again.

It is one of the finest sequences I have ever seen in a music documentary.

The film then makes the transition from that private rehearsal space to the enormous scale of their first show in Cardiff brilliantly.

You experience the anticipation of the fans heading towards the stadium, but you are also given access to what was happening backstage. Seeing Noel waiting to walk onto that stage, knowing the significance of what was about to happen, is exactly why I love music documentaries. For a moment, you feel as though you are standing behind the curtain with them.

And then Liam and Noel walk out together, holding hands.

After everything that happened between them, there is something incredibly moving about seeing such a simple gesture played out in front of an enormous stadium.

The Cardiff section also made the film particularly personal for me.

Oasis have always reminded me of growing up in Merthyr. It was a gritty but brilliant place to grow up, and Oasis were part of the soundtrack to my childhood and the childhoods of so many people around me.

That has always been part of their appeal. Two young men from a council estate went on to become two of the biggest figures in British music, yet when Liam and Noel speak, there is still something remarkably ordinary about them.

I think this documentary also does an excellent job of explaining Oasis to people who perhaps never fully understood their significance. You don’t have to suddenly become a fan, but the scale of the reunion, the generations of people in those crowds and the emotion surrounding these songs make it much easier to understand why this band means so much to so many people.

As the documentary moves through the tour, the relationship between Liam and Noel becomes increasingly important. For all the enormous concerts and everything happening around them, the film keeps returning to the two people at the centre of it.

And that is where the ending delivers such a satisfying emotional payoff.

I won’t reveal too much because it deserves to be experienced without knowing exactly where it goes. But seeing Liam and Noel interviewed together again after so many years brings the entire film full circle. The distance and uncertainty we see earlier gradually gives way to something warmer and much more familiar.

For all the stadiums, songs, fans and history, Don’t Look Back in Anger ultimately becomes something much simpler.

It is the story of two brothers who grew up together, achieved extraordinary things together, fell apart and eventually found their way back to one another.

I’ve watched and loved music documentaries for years.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen one better than this.

BM Rating: 10/10