Madonna's Film: I'm Going to Tell You a Secret

STAR! Airs 2005 Documentary as Celebration, New Album, Released

Sep 24, 2009

During Re-Invention Tour, Madonna was married to Guy Ritchie and just turned 50. How things change

Is there anything about Madonna the world doesn’t know? Any part of her anatomy that hasn’t been worhsipped publicly or photographed in the highest-end magazines like W and British Vogue?

Apparently there are enough secrets (and newly sculpted body parts), for the singer to have commissioned filmmaker Jonas Akerlund to create a one-hour documentary, I’m Going to Tell You a Secret, which was released in 2006.

A Rule Breaker

It’s being aired on STAR! on September 27, 2009 as the icon prepares to release Celebration, her greatest hits album. Worship her or wish her the worst, Madonna is now more than half a century old (sounds older than 50, doesn’t it?) and she still breaks the rules, sets trends, dresses fabulously, and shocks the world.

Kabbalah

In this documentary though, viewers get to see a kinder, gentler, less kitschy Madge (as she was affectionately nicknamed by the British press). In many ways the documentary feels like an ad for Kabbalah, her religion of choice. As the film opens she’s thundering about the beast, the decline of the modern world, and excess and riches that mean nothing.

Madonna trills "there's more to life than fame and fortune - something deeper, more profound", and that "the material world" is a bad thing. It’s rich coming from a narcissistic gazillionaire who seems to have become an adoption addict of late. It’s not like Madonna to be evangelical, is it?

I’m Going to Tell You a Secret goes behind the scenes of Madonna’s 2004 Re-Invention world tour and is shot in black and white much like her first bare-it-all doc, Truth or Dare. She’s shown auditioning dancers and picking the ones who are extraordinarily talented but don’t seem to belong to ‘the pack’, much like the megastar herself. It chronicles rehearsals, opening night and includes the final show as well as her visit to Israel.

Material Girl

For diehard fans there’s more than enough of the live performances and the song sheet includes both new and old hits: Justify My Love; Die Another Day; Live to Tell; Material Girl; Vogue; Holiday; Music; and Beautiful Stranger.

Viewers meet her beautiful and privileged children, Lola and Rocco, and her father, Silvio Ciccone and her stepmother, Joan. They get to see snippets of Madonna’s ultimately doomed relationship with filmmaker Guy Ritchie (Snatch). The only secret she reveals about him has no bite: “I’m married to a man who makes me think.” You go, Madonna!

As for the other secrets, don’t expect to read about them here. Let the laundry pile up, steep a cup of tea, and tune in to STAR!

The copyright of the article Madonna's Film: I'm Going to Tell You a Secret in Pop Culture Personalities is owned by Amber Nasrulla. Permission to republish Madonna's Film: I'm Going to Tell You a Secret in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.