Andrea Bocelli Because I Believe: And by Golly, You Will, Too

By Kim Hughes

Rating: B

When the subject of a documentary is credited, along with his manager-wife, as a producer on the film about him, it’s reasonable to expect something less than a warts-and-all expose of a life in progress. Hagiography is more like it.

And that’s pretty much what viewers of Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe are in store for when the doc, which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, hits theatres globally a day before the famed Italian tenor’s 67th birthday on September 22.

In fairness, Bocelli does seem like a nice guy, very humble and grounded. Plus, any documentary on any opera star, no matter how bestselling, is destined to play to the converted, and fans of Bocelli have heaps to enjoy here, and not just via clips of his many live and television performances around the world across the decades.

Bocelli, who narrates, invites viewers into the home he shares with his second wife Veronica and youngest child Virginia, a sprawling estate that also happens to be the Bocelli ancestral home in Tuscany, where the singer continues to celebrate his two greatest loves: music and horses. A tiny Italian greyhound gets considerable affection, too.

A more-or-less chronological storyline traces Bocelli’s childhood, portrayed as happy and carefree, until he is forced to leave home to attend a boarding school for visually impaired children. Congenital glaucoma would rob him of his sight entirely by age 12. But Bocelli makes clear he knew he had a gift that he refused to allow his disability to co-op.

Archival footage moves things along. We see him “paying his dues” — but also leveraging his musicality for profit — as a barroom pianist early in his career. His big break came when Italian pop star Zucchero, who had recorded a hit single with Luciano Pavarotti, took Bocelli on the road to sing Pavarotti’s part.

Audiences were smitten by the handsome tenor who could straddle pop and opera like a champ, and his career, boosted by a televised talent show win, was soon ascendant.

Bocelli, it seems, never lost touch with his “country boy” roots (his parents sold farming equipment). Several scenes showcase his ongoing, decades-long friendships with childhood mates; we also hear from his brother and other intimates and associates but mostly, this is Bocelli on Bocelli: looking back, looking ahead while generously crediting his mentors and inspirations.

If you love Bocelli — and with nearly 90 million records sold worldwide to date, plenty do — this is your film.

Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe. Directed by Cosima Spender. Featuring Andrea Bocelli, Veronica Bocelli, and Zucchero. In theatres September 21.