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| Ain’t In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm |
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Filmed during the final years of his life, Ain’t In It For My Health sees Levon Helm forced to confront the dark times that have haunted him since The Band’s demise: throat cancer, bankruptcy, drug addiction and the tragic loss of band mates Richard Manuel and Rick Danko.
The movie is a fairly linear recap of Helm’s life but not in an extensive biopic form. Certain time-points are examined such as Woodstock, The Band’s addictions to booze and drugs, Helm’s Grammy for lifetime achievement, his bankruptcy and his cancer. Candid interviews with Helm reveal that the legendary musician whose mark in modern music is epic, is now a fairly subdued senior who likes his pot and loves his music. Most of the movie is focused on Helm at the time of filming and the 60’s,70’s and 80’s are represented but not as much as I would have liked.
As expected in these types of rockumentaries, the film is ripe with archival footage, home movies, and original family photos that have not been shown to the public till now. Helm’s mortality is closely examined with intimate visits to doctors inspecting his vocal chords which have been impacted by throat cancer. In fact watching this movie gives a quite abrupt reminder that health is the only thing that matters at the end of the day. I really wonder if Helm could do it all over again would his post-mortem documentary still be called “Ain’t In It For My Health”.
