London's Islington in the nineteen-sixties was like many a British city community back then in that it was very tight knit, everyone knew one another and the sense of togetherness was palpable. A perfect basis for socialising and, for five young boys, getting together to form a band which would less than twenty years later see them playing to thousands of people at stadiums around the world. The music they had loved as kids had been informed by their parents - lead singer Tony Hadley practised by listening to Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett records - and by American soul they heard wherever they went, but come the seventies glam rock arrived and guitarist Gary Kemp was forever impressed by David Bowie, inspiring him to pick up a guitar and write his own songs...
That band were, of course, Duran Duran - ah, not really, they were Spandau Ballet in a documentary directed by George Hencken, a producer who had worked with Julien Temple on acclaimed accounts of British pop culture, most notably their Doctor Feelgood film Oil City Confidential. The difference in subject matter was that the rock band were cool, yet by the time the eighties ended Spandau Ballet and their brand of achingly sincere, melodramatic pop were the opposite as the era of irony dawned; basically, they were regarded as the epitome of naff with their fashion victim dress sense and synth-led tunes, not to mention all the kitschy gloss the decade could muster to present them.
So by the time the boys were suffering their legal problems when the three members who were not brothers found the money running out in the nineties and sued for royalties, the whole kerfuffle was rather embarrassing, especially when it was ruled Gary had written their songs alone and they had simply performed them, hence he was the one due the profits. That news image of them at the court was one which had supplanted the music videos in the minds of many of their former fans and those who had been aware of them way back when, so it was cheering that Hencken's efforts offered a more rounded view of their successes (and failures), not to mention well-timed when the documentary's story manages to end on a high note as they got back together for a tour that brought them much acclaim.
You could argue that with the editing together of a ton of footage the assembly was verging on the hyperactive, with each shot lasting about three seconds before we were served up another evocative if occasionally bombastic visual reminder of days gone by. This meant that by the end of a near-two hour journey it was somewhat exhausting given the barrage of nostalgia the film was dealing with, though so well-chosen were the clips that they genuinely offered a rush of memories, and if you didn't happen to remember them, a grounding in what pop culture had been like in the sphere Spandau Ballet existed in from their first hit in 1980 onwards. Being released at the point where eighties nostalgia was bigger than ever was likely the best time for Soul Boys of the Western World to arrive.
Not that the title is explained, but there was plenty to be getting on with, most vividly the contrast between the lifestyle of fast cars, fast women, expensive holidays and booze and cocaine and the more impoverished existence much of Britain was labouring under during the reign of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an inescapable figure as the narrative subtly digs at the band for embodying the every man for himself ethos of the decade's Conservative government, a paradox when the band espoused the worth of their working class roots. Wisely, they don't delve too far into politics but acknowledge the backdrop - granted, it would be difficult not to - as the interpersonal relationships take precedent where we can understand how precarious their position was, just a few steps from out of their depth. Naturally, every Spandau Ballet single gets an airing, though one of their best, I'll Fly For You, gets disappointingly short shrift, with True predictably held up as the worldbeater it was, but even if you don't think you like the tunes, you may be surprised at how good this is.
