Can't help but feel very sad about Michel Jackson's early death.

What an enormously gifted performer, and how wonderful to see him rise during those rehearsal times (where and when the filming was done).

It looks like it was going to be a GREAT CONCERT, that never actually happened. I was very touched by a number of beautiful moments in the film, moments where he was singing without musical backing, moments where he was improvising, and other moments of inter-action with members of the cast and crew of the show. Definitely a MUST SEE  film, to be seen in the cinema!

Michael has (co-) written many great songs, and his whole expression (physically/ vocally) is so VERY UNIQUE; he is mesmerizing!  With him on stage, the stage is filled; without him it is open and waiting to be filled.
I was very impressed with the quality of the filming and the sound and the amount of film material. It seems almost as if they (?) had planned to make this film (of the rehearsal period). Obviously some footage will  have been shot after Michael's untimely death, but there is plenty of film material with him in it. Makes me wonder, why were they doing all this filming? What would have happened to this footage, had the concerts in London gone ahead as planned?

While cast and crew have great respect for Michael, he keeps his distance and rarely comes out of his shell. He wears sunglasses most of the time, and kind of hides a lot of the time, it seems to me. He is obviously saving himself for the real work (giving the 50 concerts), and slowly gearing himself in the demanding work of dancing and singing and carrying the burden of the whole production etc. Michael's dancers & singers admire him greatly, and stir him up every once in a while to open up, open out, let rip. Occasionally he does, to an extend, and those are beautiful moments.

My impression of Michael was that he is (was) Peter Pan indeed; never quite grown up. His best qualities are child like qualities. It is as if he put all negativity and pain aside (inside himself) and decided to be like Peter Pan. As a result of not really digesting the trouble & the pain, he never really gained mature adulthood.

 

In his life he seemed lonely, and on stage he could only repeat himself with his songs and movements. The stage was still the best place for him, where he'd come alive; of stage he (perhaps) didn't quite know who he was.
In the film it became obvious (to me)  that there was no new inspiration; Michael was simply repeating himself, even after a 10 year absence from the concert stage. It looked like Michael had developed some new movements (?), and the concept for the show had some new ideas (?), but on the whole that didn't invigorate his performance, not in this film. In a way, what did strike me was the knowledge that Michael's funeral service would be held in this same auditorium just weeks later, with most of his backing vocalists and dancers participating, fully rehearsed.
Would it have been possible for Michael to know, to have some inclination, that this was going to happen? Did he feel he had it IN HIM to go to London and hold large audiences captive for 50 nights running? Did he feel during those rehearsal days that the show was really coming together?  It struck me that at one point Michael mentions that this last run will be his final stage appearance.

 

Could it be that he began to realize that this 'final'  tour could become  an uninspired repeating-himself grueling 50 day night-mare? Will we ever find out what caused his death, and how aware Michael was about risks he was taking (with drugs etc.). That, I'm sure we'll never know. It could even be, that all these questions were too delicate for Michael to openly confront, and that much of the struggle was unconscious, or at least pushed away  into the small night hours.
 

Perhaps in those small hours (of the night) and at some point in his life, Michael called on the name of Jesus. It's the same for all of us: Without God's inspired involvement in our lives, we end up just repeating ourselves, in what ever way. Gradually the feeling emerges that we're missing something IMPORTANT.

 

Indeed, we're missing the MOST important element to life: God's forgiveness and God's amazing (Holy) Spirit! It is only through JESUS (sacrifice) that we can receive forgiveness. He puts us (back) in touch with Father God. I wonder where Michael stood with Jesus; was he humble enough to receive the forgiveness that is so essential for finding real fulfillment. I hope he did. If he did, he kept quiet about it...

Now he sleeps the for-ever sleep.  God bless his family, his children, his mother, and all those beautiful people dancing and singing with him, including the man who made this beautiful film: 'This is it!'