Whitney: Can I Be Me

My heart felt so heavy after watching this. As talented as she was people who were supposed to be closest to her did NOT love her unconditionally. I've always known that fame often marginalizes people's lives but never really came to a deeper understanding and a greater empathy for how isolated and alone someone famous can become. I grew up with Whitney playing on the radio, bought her albums and saw her live in the early 90s. She worked her voice like an olympic athlete and was all that on stage - unbeatable really. But to have such a diametrically opposite life off stage and to die so young is truly a tragedy. The fame was useless. I'm only left to say that this story teaches all of us very important things about love, life and success.

I really don't see why this was given such a low rating. The documentary was done very tastefully. We all know Whitney had a drug problem but they didn't try to smear her legacy by showing all of negative things that were going on. I've watched many specials before and after she died but there were things in this documentary that I had never seen or heard before. That in itself says a lot. I would watch again one day. The biggest thing I'm left feeling is, I wish Bobbi Kris would have lived longer. Obviously I wish both of them would have but I can only imagine how much Whitney would have wanted Bobbi to flourish, be happy and live a wonderful life. It's all so very tragic. If you have ever been a fan of Whitney's I recommend you watch it. I don't think it's anything at all like the negative reviews are saying b

Nick Broomfield tends to make controversial documentaries. He usually turns up with a camera and a boom mike and ensures chaos unfolds.

Whitney: Can I Be Me is a departure from Broomfield's usual documentary style. Using archive footage as well as interviewing some people who worked or were close to Whitney we see a person who came up from gospel singing and crossed over to pop and made it big in the USA and around the world.

In 1992 when she got an acting role in The Bodyguard, her profile went to the stratosphere. The film was a commercial hit, the songs became best sellers. Whitney's cover of I Will Always Love You has become an enduring hit.

Yet in 1992 she also married singer Bobby Brown despite some years of rumours about her sexuality. Brown was riding high as a pop star at the time, the general consensus was this was a union that would not last.

The trouble was it led to Houston going on a destructive path. Keen to hide her sexuality, wanting a child, her conflict with her and her family's deep religious convictions. Houston increasingly found solace in drugs as Brown and Houston engaged in wild living, he was also having affairs and she also had her own special friend in Robyn Crawford.

Undoubtedly this is a sad documentary. A life wasted and cut short. We see footage of another documentary that was shot in 1999 which followed Whitney in her last major world tour. After that her recording output declined, so did her voice but her erratic behaviour increased.

I think Broomfield himself liked her, hence a rather respectful approach. As her long term bodyguard commented, Whitney could had been saved but those around her were not interested in keeping her off drugs.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

When world famous recording superstar Whitney Houston died from a drug overdose in February 2012, it sent the showbiz world into chaos and had everyone talking. Director Nick Broomfield examines her life leading up to her death, from her upbringing in the slums of the ghetto, where she first began experimenting with drugs, but also discovered her amazing, soulful voice, that would lead to her conquering the world with her singing, where she harmonised it singing in the choir in the local evangelical church. When she first hit the big time, she first experimented with her sexuality with assistant Robyn Crawford, before settling down with r n' b singer Bobby Brown, which sadly lead to a downward spiral of drink and drugs that ruined it all.

If there are many things Broomfield's documentary misses out on, one salient point it does raise is how unhappy Whitney apparently was with the manufactured, fuzzy commercial pop she was made to sing by her record company, designed to appeal to the mainstream white suburban America that was apparently more likely to buy the records, rather than stuff that was more grounded in her roots, with no one wanting her to become 'the female James Brown.' While these were the tunes that made her famous, it's disconcerting to know she felt so little of it behind the scenes. As if out of some weird respect for this, Broomfield brushes over most of her early back catalogue, and musically, focuses on her 1992 cover of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You, from the hit motion picture The Bodyguard.

Another touchy subject that has never received much attention before is her rumoured bisexuality, which is sparingly explored here in the early stages, but what's more revealing is the disdain for such things that exists among, or did exist among, the black community in America at the time, and if Whitney wasn't spurned by her fans or wider society, she would have been by those closer to her. Running under the two hour mark, it's hard not to surmise that Broomfield may have had a lot of missed opportunities, and stuff he neglects to explore or delve into that could have added more substance to the proceedings, and given it a more interesting edge.

It all feels very similar to a lot of what has already been documented about Whitney's personal/private life in TV documentaries and such, and at this late stage it's hard not to feel like you're seeing stuff you've already seen. But it's still a fairly well made and focused documentary of a cultural icon. ***

There is not much new that is revealed in this documentary. What is new is the fact its brought to our attention that Cissy Houston was a terrible mother!

Cissy, you & Whitney would perform at Gay Bars (When Whitney Was Young) and yet you despised gay people because "Against God". So is divorce yet you had one. Drx before marriage BINGO that's against God as well. What troll you are Miss Cissy. Gay dollars were fine but we "Are going against God". Your foolish belief cost you not only your daughter but your grand daughter. It also seems no matter who "Whitney Loved" you were always against it. I think you were mad every time Whitney sold another record.

Long before Whitney Married Bobby she was rumored to have a girlfriend and her new name is front and center in this documentary. Sad that Whitney felt forced to be straight because of her jealous mother made her life hell.

I said years ago "Stop Blaming Bobby". Whitney's problems started long before he came along.

Its just too to know what happened not only to Whitney but her daughter as well!