I was scrolling through TikTok when a video of Celine Dion having a seizure played on my screen. Intrigued, I opened the comment section to find some context and discovered that the clip was from a documentary titled "I Am: Celine Dion." I decided to watch it, and today, I will share my thoughts about it.
The documentary is 1 hour and 42 minutes long. During this time, the biography of the well-known singer Celine Dion is shared, from the start of her career up to the present. This includes her humble beginnings and how she acquired her love for music. It also covers how music changed her life and how her life transformed when she got married and had children.
Along with the narrative of her life are raw behind-the-scenes moments showing how her life-altering disease affected her life and career. She shared her struggles with this rare condition and even admitted to some of the cheats she took during performances. According to her, this documentary is one of the ways she can share how broken she felt when lying to people.
The documentary is simple and serves its purpose: to share and narrate. It's what a documentary should be — it must show the viewers the raw truth. The good thing is, the production team let Celine Dion be the main narrator of her own story, which adds to the genuineness of the documentary. As a viewer, I felt like the singer was sharing her story with me, one-on-one, with no filter.
What I realized after watching the documentary is that her passion for music is unparalleled. She is indeed passionate about music and loves it deeply, intertwined with her life. So, when she was struck by her disease and could no longer perform like before, you can understand why she was heartbroken and frustrated.
The scene that struck me the most was the part where she was attacked by a seizure. This is the scene that I watched on TikTok, and it made me teary-eyed and broken. While she was having the seizure, you could see in her eyes that she was scared and wanted to stop the involuntary stiffness of her body but couldn’t.
After calming down, she started crying, expressing how scared and helpless she was during the situation. Despite what happened, after recovering, she started singing again, and for me, that shows her strength and determination not to be defeated by her illness. What a fighting spirit she has!
Kudos to her physical therapist for identifying the early signs of the seizure. If it hadn't been identified immediately, she might have fallen and sustained serious injuries.
Overall, I liked the documentary. Aside from Celine Dion’s autobiography and her revelation about her disease, I was inspired by her determination and passion for the things she truly loves. Despite the challenges she is currently facing, she doesn't let them define her.
If you’re interested in watching the documentary, it is now available on Amazon Prime.
