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His death came as a shock to the world

Ever since I saw that a new movie about the life of Elvis Presley would come out, I was intrigued. I HAD to see that movie. When Elvis Presley passed away at the age of 42 I was only a child, but I can still remember that the news of his passing came as a shock to the world.

In the years after his death I heard a lot of music from him, my parents had many of his LPs and they were often played. I watched the movies he recorded, many of them with my sister. Even though Elvis was dead, the hype was still alive for many, and I got a lot from that. Naturally, my curiosity also played a major role in this.

You can say I was fascinated by his life. And from what I've read, loneliness and the fear of being alone played a huge part in Elvis' life. Did I draw the right conclusion? I don't know, and never will. After all, I never knew Elvis, nor did I know anyone who was close to him. But it made me sure that I wanted to see the movie "ELVIS" that will be released in 2022 with Austin Butler in the lead role.

The film

The first thing that struck me was the enormous resemblance that Austin Butler has in the film to the young Elvis. The second was his voice! It's really unbelievable how similar Austin's voice is, from the accent to the intonation and sound. The way of singing, the way of speaking… And then his movements. My god, Austin must have spent many hours studying Elvis, but also with his movements you really see Elvis. Basically, after just a few minutes of watching, you'll forget you're not watching Elvis himself.

The story

What I found intriguing was that the story begins with Colonel Tom Parker, aka the Dutchman Dries van Kuijk who traveled to America illegally. And that the film continues in this story I found an interesting angle. It means that this film sometimes shows surprising facts about a man who was so well known in his heyday that you actually don't expect that there are still new facts to tell. It also means that this film has not become a poor substitute in which only the life of Elvis passes by your eye. And that's what makes this movie interesting, because let's face it, everyone knows about Elvis' life. It is precisely the story told from his lying, manipulative, manager's point of view that makes this film interesting. This manager is played incomparably by Tom Hanks.

Vulnerability

The film that mainly shows the relationship between Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker also shows how vulnerable Elvis actually was. And I think you can see here again that Elvis was very lonely, this is also said several times in the film. But what is not underlined is that Elvis was not only lonely, but also had a fear of being alone.

Elvis' vulnerability, and his fear of being alone, also allowed Colonel Tom Parker to manipulate him into getting him where he wanted him. It allowed Colonel Tom Parker to control Elvis like a puppet. And it made Elvis totally dependent on him.

drugs

It must have been clear that Elvis suffered from this. It is not surprising that he fell into a depression from such a situation. But performing was more important to Colonel Tom Parker, so Elvis had to go on stage anyway. And that's where the drugs came into play. This made Elvis even more dependent. And that eventually led to his death. During the autopsy, 14 different types of drugs were found in his body. We know that he died much too young. He was only 42 years old, and of those 42 years he spent 22 years with Colonel Tom Parker as his manager. For 22 years he has been the star of Colonel Tom Parker's show.

Phenomenal performance

I enjoyed watching the movie. Austin Butler's performance is phenomenal. It is no small feat to step into the skin of one of the greatest Rock'nRoll legends of all time. And if, in addition to the acting performances, you also take care of the vocals in the film, then you are dealing with a lot. The chances of you failing are high! For me he certainly did not fail, on the contrary! But despite that, I also missed some facts in this movie.

Women

We see the marriage with Priscilla and the birth of Lisa-Marie in the film. Divorce is briefly discussed. But we do not see that Elvis in the last year of his life got engaged to 21-year-old Ginger Alden. And that part was also important to Elvis. He was coming out of his depression, and Ginger helped Elvis get off drugs. He had wedding plans with Elvis. Had he not died on August 16, 1977, he would have been married later that year, Christmas 1977, with Ginger Alden. It was also Ginger that Elvis found in his bathroom at Graceland the morning on the day he died.

Now I understand that the story was mainly about the relationship between Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker, but I would have chosen to put this last piece of information in the film. Why? Because it shows that Elvis was not depressed in the last year of his life. Now the movie kind of ends with him thinking he was depressed, Ginger says he wasn't.

Truth or not?

Whether or not Elvis was depressed in the last year of his life will never be fully clarified. Elvis himself can no longer tell. There are fewer and fewer people alive who knew him personally, and these people all have their own memories of him, and their own truth. The fact is that Elvis led a remarkable life, that he was manipulated by his manager, and that he died much too young.

While watching the movie I thought “Elvis is alive!”, but just as Elvis' life came to an end, so did the movie.

Elvis has left the building.

Posted using CineTV