She wants to dance with somebody....

She wants to dance with somebody….

Now there’s a film that passed me by, ‘I wanna dance with somebody’, a story of Whitney Houston. After discovering this fairly recently and neither loving or hating it I realised that parts were gripping, poignant and simply brilliant. This epic, iconic lady who sang with grace making it seem effortless, needs a platform in order to feed the hunger for some kind of truth that demands to be told.

Many may quickly say by default - ‘tragic’ or ‘a shame’ at the mention of this singing superstar but let's look a bit deeper and ask who she really was. Whitney Elizabeth Houston according to the film was considered as ‘not being black enough’ by a certain percentage of admirers and this is where we see the actress portraying her speak out adamantly about what music means to her personally and we witness a strength of character and an insight into her thoughts where ‘music is music’ no matter the ethnicity of the artist.

In her younger days when being contracted we get a strong gist of a very close family but it is hard to tell initially whether her parents are encouraging and preparing her for the cruel wide world which awaits or are severely harsh and bitter. As the film progresses we can feel that her mother feels pride and responsibility towards her but is not a particularly demonstrative mother. Also we gain an understanding of what actually surrounds her in terms of people and ‘big names’. With her friend Robyn, Whitney is somewhat flippant as she names her ‘entourage’: ‘Only’ Cissy, Dionne and Aretha themselves are her family!

So no real resume required as it appears she was very much born to sing and perform but on the other hand the bar is set extremely high for her, as there is a lot to prove and indeed she does prove her worth and we can see how she flourishes in front of her audiences.

The relationship with her producer is something we see grow and develop and Whitney obviously feels free to be herself, refuses songs and adapts them and eventually asks for nothing less than a movie….which comes in the form of ‘The bodyguard’ where she covers ‘I will always love you’ by Dolly Parton.

The movie shows us her humility especially in a scene where her health is suffering and a hotel member of staff speaks warmly and encouragingly to her quoting concerts and high opinion of her. The look in her eyes of appreciation is touching and leads us to believe she is trying to get ‘something’ back which is lost.

The role of Bobby Brown, her husband in my humble opinion, was poor, there lacked any charisma, charm or personality to which we could relate to in justifying her choice of life partner. Her best friend Robyn and early lover, appears loyal, steady and ready to meet her needs personally and creatively but we can feel the underlying conflict arising, to which Whitney remains quiet about.

There is reference made to records she made like ‘beating the Beatles’ with consecutive number ones and being the most awarded female vocalist. As the film nears the end, we understand resentments have formed between her and her father, the cause being a financial one. There is an empty seat at his funeral.

‘I wanna dance with somebody’ is not a feel-good reminder of a brilliant performer, it is not a musical orientated drama, but rather a piece of a jigsaw puzzle where you decide yourself where it fits, depending on how you feel about the star and her music. Personally I grew up listening to ‘The greatest love of all’ and contemplated the lyrics in my mind wondering if she truly did feel self love. I sure hope she did.