Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
On a January night in 1985, music's biggest stars gathered to record "We Are the World." This documentary goes behind the scenes of the historic event.
A warm, nostalgic music documentary that benefits enormously from remarkable archival footage of an iconic recording session. The behind-the-scenes access to 1985's star-studded 'We Are the World' session is genuinely compelling and the film mines it well. However, it doesn't transcend the familiar talking-heads documentary format, and the storytelling, while engaging, is fairly straightforward. The 'plot' is essentially chronological and unchallenging. Cinematography is constrained by the archival nature of the material. Novelty is moderate — the subject matter is singular but the documentary approach is conventional. The ending delivers emotional payoff tied to the song itself rather than any cinematic invention.