by CHRIS BARRY

This week Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster makes its way to a theatre near you. And regardless of what you think about Metallica's music, directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have conspired to produce one of the most insightful documentaries about a rock 'n' roll band one could ever hope to see.

Initially hired by Metallica's record label to film a bit of B-roll footage to later be used as promotional material for the band's St. Anger record, the filmmakers stumbled into what can only be described as an exceptional situation: one of the biggest rock bands in the world fighting to write and record an album while two key members, drummer Lars Ulrich and singer/guitarist James Hetfield, have come to despise one another - which, in and of itself, is no big whoop. After all, most groups start hating each other with time.

Except in the case of Metallica, rather than call it a day, they hired one Phil Towle, performance enhancement guru and ersatz psychologist, to guide them through two years of group therapy sessions in the hope of halting the seemingly inevitable.

Dutifully capturing all the resulting tension, fights and insecurities of these multi-platinum metal monsters in glorious detail, the result is a brilliant piece of work, a remarkable glimpse into the psyche and dynamics of an ageing rock band wrestling with the realities of creative ennui while struggling to re-capture the magic they shared back before wives, families and, arguably, adulthood, came into the picture.

A painfully honest profile, Some Kind of Monster was over two years in the making, largely the result of Hetfield's abrupt decision half way through the recording process to check into rehab for six months and sever all contact with the band. The Mirror spoke with Monster co-director Bruce Sinofsky last week.

Mirror: Hey, your film is amazing. I'd argue it's in league with the likes of Don't Look Back or Gimme Shelter.

Bruce Sinofsky: That's a huge compliment. Joe and I started with the Maysles Brothers, you know, worked there for 14 years. And actually, this film was sort of a subtle tip of the hat to Gimme Shelter. But it's so unique, you can't really categorize it. Our movie is kind of like Let It Be but with balls, because the guys were so willing to express themselves openly and honestly in front of the camera. Whereas with Let It Be the viewer kind of had to read between the lines to see what was going on between band members.

M: Were you guys peeing yourselves with glee while capturing some of this stuff on tape?

BS: Yeah, we knew we had something. But it didn't really coalesce until James came back from rehab. And, honestly, we had told them, "Look, if we're getting in the way of your music, we'll just check out." It wouldn't have been good for anyone if that had been the case. That's not what a documentarian does. And I think James respected us for that. He was pretty much against continuing the project until we showed him about 15 minutes of footage - that scene where he actually fights with Lars and then walks out. He said a light bulb went off in his head after seeing the depth and the integrity of what we were trying to do. So after that he just went, "Okay, let's continue. But go deeper, as deep as you can go, just be honest."

M: I guess at this stage of the game they don't really have all that much to lose by being so candid. It's not like there's all that much mystique left to Metallica after all these years in the spotlight.

BS: Maybe, but they still have a lot at risk. Most people are hesitant to expose themselves in the first place, and, in terms of image, Metallica have always been a very tightly controlled band. Then, all of a sudden, they basically decide to undress in front of us. And maybe some fans will reject their heroes because they don't want to see their soft underbelly. They want to see the guys as larger than life. It was very brave of Metallica to do this, you know.

Not ready for prime time

M: Didn't they wind up financing the thing?

BS: Originally we were hired to do a behind-the-scenes making-of-a-record kind of film. But obviously, when we walked into a therapy session, Joe and I, instinctively as storytellers, wanted to nudge the door open wider and wider. Yet Elektra, their record label at the time, was footing the bills and at one point, when they'd already spent $2-million on the film and when the record was coalescing, it was like, "Yeah, you really do have some good material here. What do you think about maybe putting together a reality show with it?" Ozzy's show had just come out then. But Metallica cringed. First of all, they didn't want anything so overtly commercial tied to the band, and besides, this film is so personal it just doesn't belong on television. It wouldn't get its just due there, if for nothing else, because of all the profanity. They would have cut it up into parts, there'd be commercials. We all knew it wouldn't have worked. So James came up with the idea of buying the film back from the record company, and the very next day they wrote out a $2-million cheque to Elektra to get it. What was absolutely fascinating to us was the only thing they'd seen at that point was that first 15 minutes we'd shown James. We'd shot over 1,200 hours by then. There was such trust. It was like a fairy tale for a filmmaker.

M: Did they start forgetting about the cameras being around right away?

BS: They're used to having cameras around. The biggest compliment we had was when James said he always thought of us as furniture - only noticing us when we weren't there.

Communicating tools

M: Hey, that Phil Towle therapist/performance enhancement guy seems like one motherfucker of a sad dude to me. Nevertheless, I came away from the film thinking that he did, in fact, successfully rescue Metallica from the brink of extinction.

BS: Most definitely he did. That band was hanging from a thread and he gave them tools they didn't have. Tools to communicate, to express themselves to one another.

M: Obviously, the band must like the film or I guess we wouldn't be seeing it, right?

BS: We were with them last night at the premiere in New York. And Lars was saying, "I just want to tell you how proud I am of this film. I'm so proud of you and of our involvement in this film and now we're giving it away to the world. It's not gonna be ours anymore, it feels like sending a kid off to college and hoping they do well."

M: Are you banking, what with the phenomena of reality television and the box office success of Fahrenheit 9/11, that the flick will open in more theatres and get more attention than, say, had you made it a decade ago?

BS: Well, documentaries are cranking right now. Documentaries are the new independent film and I think people are thirsty for quality reality - not the crap that's on television. I think it's forcing people out of their houses because they can't stand watching Joe Schmo on Bachelor Number Six anymore, you know? Truth is, this film is really about people, about relationships. You don't need to be a Metallica fan to relate to it.

Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster opens Friday, July 16

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