Documentary Series: Pavarotti

“Pavarotti,” Ron Howard’s documentary about the larger-than-life Luciano Pavarotti, combines new intimate interviews, never-before-seen footage, and some of Pavarotti’s history-making performances. This is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of the man and the legend. This film about the singer, who died at 71 in 2007, does address his many shortcomings, including his extramarital affairs, which turned into tabloid fodder. But the portrait Howard paints, based on more than 50 interviews and enhanced with intimate home videos, is of an ebullient force who brought joy to the world and those closest to him. "For better, sometimes worse, Pavarotti just lived so fully,” says Howard. “He gave that kind of energy to his art, his work, and he gave that energy to his life. And that’s to be respected.”