Review of The Rose (1979) by Adam P — 09 Feb 2010

I was proud and elated that the filmmakers did not go down the easy route of showing a female rock-star slowly and painfully destroying herself with drugs. Though this was central to the narrative, almost no time was devoted to her downfall and that is what gave this movie it's heart.

Nearly the entire film focuses on Rose's personality, her dreams, pain, ambitions, love, and heartache which gives us more insight into why a person would do hard drugs than watching them shoot up ever would.

Bette Midler is an unstoppable force of nature, off-putting and charming at the same time. Between the sweet love scenes and the explosive musical numbers, there's hardly a dull spot throughout. One of the better musical 'biopics' I've seen.