Review of Kevin MacDonald's documentary "Whitney".

Cause of death: Eighty. Fatal cause: Knark. Fatal cause: Family. Fatal cause: pop industry. Causes of death: racism. Causes of death: homophobia. The two documentaries that came out of Whitney Houston in less than two years both look like a series of shots in the superstar's heart. To a large extent, it's the same topic of interview, colleagues and family members, which tells the same tragic story of the ghost-ghost angel of the Newark ghetto raised to stratospheric glory and then falling into the dune

. I wonder "has never become more than a little tragic and untouchable film of" talking heads "," Whitney "of Kevin MacDonald finds something new in the gap between what is said and not

It opens with a Houston kitsch montage in a stunning neon-colored television appearance interfaced with images of fast graves, American flags, Ronald Reagan, and commercials. first and start looking for the man, which is not the easiest thing, for "Nippy", as we called it, just to close the door on itself, its personality and sexuality, to adapt to the will of others, until she becomes sleepy and deprived of drowsiness, her voice falls and dies at the age of forty. Never forgotten, but often mocked.

Usually, when such stories are told, the tragedy e is usually weighed by a sort of mythical inevitability: The star's light has burned so much louder than ordinary people that it just has to end tragically! And then, under the captions, you usually play such a beautiful song that it's their work that's remembered, not the stabbed, worn out, and boundless creature you just followed in death.

Read more: Whitney is in depth at Whitney Houston's Secrets

The only Houston song that could have the effect that goes straight into space and who puts her hair on her arms is her rendition of the Starry Stars and Stripes of Superbowl 1991 Where she stands in an empty and sophisticated drive, and only wakes up the national anthem (in four beats, not waltz) with a force that could ensure that Stalin enrolled in the Green Card Lottery. So lucky that you see her just once in the film: When she is eleven years old, she sings in the church choir. Houston can not belong to "white" pop, nor to "black" R & B. She had a waking energy or battle song that did not correspond to banal love songs. She could get everyone to get up, sink the mountain and stand up.

Instead, she became a superstar for the wrong reasons, married for the wrong reasons and dead for the wrong reasons. He does not feel at all mythical or inevitable. Just wrong and sad.

Can you change something if you deny yourself? Houston was the first black singer of the US hitlist (more series than the Beatles) and broke the barriers of the race by kissing Kevin Kostner in "Bodyguard". But has it paved the way for a more diverse film and music industry? Or was it made so "white" and outdated to make it happen that it had the opposite effect?

The reverberation of the film resonates as MacDonald later believes. But he may be wrong.

Quiz: What do you know about Whitney Houston's life?

When Kanye West bought the photo rights to the Houston gazebo bathroom for the cover of Pusha T's new album, many protested the disrespect. But the gesture can also be seen as a holy explanation. This image circulated around the gossip press and drew contempt and eagle when the star fell. To make a trace of it, is to build a box for these scary relics; a kind of tribute to the sunny martyrdom of Houston and the revolutionary power of his voice.