The careers of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath and their key associates such as Tony Iommi and Randy Rhoads have now been recounted so often that there’s only so much new info any documentary about any of them can really provide. God Bless…, produced by Osbourne’s son Jack, has been talked up as a real picture of the man’s unique career and, indeed, there’s an insight into his personal life which hasn’t been seen before. This is largely achieved through his five children complaining about what a crap father he was in their youth – a wholly justifiable grievance which the errant dad himself mostly swerves, blaming his behaviour on the devious nature of alcohol and drug addiction.
Along the way there’s a pretty tasty run-through of Ozzy’s career with Sabbath (the other three members chip in the expected reminiscences), the excellent Randy Rhoads years, the terrible mid-to-late 80s and then – avoiding the 90s almost entirely – the MTV series that gave him a new lease of commercial life. While The Osbournes was being filmed, it emerges, Ozzy hit rock bottom, only giving up the substances when his children Jack and Kelly conquered their own addictions. Though he’s now apparently five years sober, the film’s cheery ending – in which he is portrayed as a healthy, clean-as-a-whistle family man – rings a little false, given the insidious nature of dependency. Still, the film does a thorough job of explaining Ozzy’s wayward trajectory over the last 50 years, while deleted scenes and a post-filming Q&A add value.
