Truth or Dare

Midway through Madonna's Truth or Dare, Warren Beatty sits looking a bit bemused and annoyed and makes the statement taht Madonna doesn't exist when the cameras are turned off. He can't believe she is allowing every moment of her life to be filmed and at the same time criticizes her for manipulating the people and events around her. A bit later on one of her dancers points out that all Madonna is looking for is someone who can be "real" with her. That duality is what makes Madonna one of our greatest cultural entertainers, and makes the movie worth watching.

More often than not, a documentary produced by the subject is something to avoid. Who wants to sit through someone else's vanity project? What makes Truth or Dare different is Madonna's attitude toward the film. She knows the camera is there, she knows people will watch, and what she wants us to see is the very purpose behind the movie. We're not only to jduge her as a performer, but as the person filming what we are watching. Her act after all, is based on its shocking theatrical merits.

None of the events of the "Blind Ambition Tour" are particularly entertaining or unique. Madonna herself shows us just about everything, but by now we are quite used to the exposure. Moments that might come across as shocknig for any other performer are nearly dismissable because they are about Madonna. The titillation, the frank sexual overtones seem almost mundane and at the very least, expected.

Yet what makes the movie intriguing is the juxtaposition between seeing someone who has to perform, and someone wh seems to crave teh need for someone to accept her for who she "is." Madonna's strength is clearly the way she maintains her power in an atmosphere which has led others down the path of self destruction. She has sometimes been compared with Marilyn Monroe and there are scenes where the self abuse is combined with the overwhelming need for the love from others. Though she claims she doesn't care what others think about her, her sole purpose seems to be shaping and "mothering" what everyone around her thinks and does.

Beatty himself gives perhaps his best movie performance since Bonnie and Clyde. He can't believe Madonna is allowing the cameras to film what he obviously has come to accept. At the same time, he can't seem to detach himself from the entire scene either. He is clearly uncomfortable, and yet he sees himself as the "sane" one amidst a sea of troubled performers.

Perhaps we are supposed to be shocked and admire the frank tone of the movie. Yet nothing comes across as spontaneous, it all has a staged feel to it, as though we are supposed to emphasize with what Madonna feels her essence truly is. The moments that might have held some emotional power, like when she lies down on the grave of her mother, are a bit too contrived and sterile. The emotional punch comes from the musical performances themselves. "Live to Tell," "Vogue," and "Oh Father" express deep rooted emotion, and Madonna proves she is someone who can never be totally dismissed. The dancing and what the "show" means to her, is touching.

She doesn't come across as particularly likeable. Yet her popularity is undeniable as is her value as an entertainer. What makes Truth or Dare better than the average rock documentary is the strength of Madonna's personality. You don't have to like this person, but there is no denying how she got to where she is. She has become famous for shocking us sexually, although that part of her act is the part that will eventually, if it already hasn't, wear thin the fastest. But take that away and intriguing aspects remain. The way she is attempting to incorporate her life into her art, the way she expresses her soul through presentation is fascinating.

There undoubtedly will be more projects, more scandals, more outrage. The value behind Truth or Dare isn't in the glimpse of a single moment, a single tour, but in its explanation in defining the process of one artist's work.