The Problem With ABBA Documentaries

 So recently a documentary about ABBA, titled ABBA: Against The Odds, or Sagan Om ABBA, was released in celebration of ABBA's 50th anniversary since winning Waterloo.  The 90 minute or so documentary claimed to tell "the epic story of ABBA’s greatest period of musical achievement framed between the albums ‘Arrival’ (1976) and ‘Super Trooper’ (1980), this is the story of ABBA’s deeply personal and perilous journey through the band’s most transformative years and rise to global fame."  Directed by James Rogan, a credible director who previously made a really cool documentary about Queen that featured a lot of rare, unseen, and archival footage and audio of the band (I haven't actually seen this documentary but I've heard good things about it), claimed that this documentary would also do the same, giving ABBA the same treatment that he gave to Queen. 

From the director's own website: "ABBA: Against The Odds will see a host of European broadcasters including BBC, ARD/WDR, France Télévisions, SVT and DR unite and come together to fund the feature film detailing the incredible story of the renowned group featuring re-discovered archive, exclusive never-before-seen stills and previously unheard stories. The film is set to be a roller-coaster journey of love, struggle, fame and – of course – epic songs."

 

So last night I got the chance to watch this documentary, specifically the Swedish version Sagan Om ABBA.  Seeing as a lot of it was in Swedish with no subtitles and I was watching it on 2x speed, I couldn't really understand a lot of it, but that's not to say I didn't follow.

 

The documentary was mostly made up on old audios and interviews from the 70s and beyond from the ABBA members.  I think a lot of the audio of Agnetha talking in English is from 2013 during some of the many interviews Agnetha did to promote her album A.  I think there were some modern interview audios from DJ Richard Skinner, some other people who were sort of involved with ABBA in the 70s, Bjorn, Benny, Ingmarie Halling, and Carl Magnus Palm, but that's just about it.   

 

Granted I couldn't understand half the documentary because I do not understand Swedish, but the story hardly mentioned anything about ABBA's actual story, just the basic you know, Bjorn met Agnetha, fell in love with her, and Benny met Frida, fell in love with her, etc.  It very briefly talks about their success with Waterloo that started it all, and kinda just jumps you straight into Dancing Queen era and you know, all about Dancing Queen, discussion of ABBA and all their Money Money Money, ABBA's DISCO era :O :O :O :O, and then Bjorn and Agnetha breaking up.  And a very brief in passing mention of Benny and Frida's divorce, despite the fact that that event happened after 1980.  And the End.

 

I've seen this happen in a lot of documentaries about ABBA, but the main focus is basically all about Bjorn and Agnetha.  Literally close to the beginning of the first documentary (the documentary was split into two 45 minute segments for some reason), I think it was Richard Skinner talking about how when he first met Agnetha and Bjorn in 1974, they were like one unit.  And I knew from that moment this documentary would be only focusing on them.  The documentary focuses a ton on how in 1978, Bjorn and Agnetha were having marriage struggles, and omg Frida and Benny had to get married while the other half of ABBA's marriage were falling apart, but that's like the only thing this documentary really focuses on their relationship. It's like Bjorn, Agnetha, and Dancing Queen are the only thing that matters to people, which is wrong.

 

Speaking of Agnetha, like many other documentaries and books on ABBA, this documentary makes such A BIG DEAL on how touring and traveling and all the ABBA things were SO BAD for Agnetha, and she was miserable and sad all the time and enjoyed NONE of it.  All she wanted to do was be with her kids, and the other members were NEVER supportive of her.  Life for Agnetha Faltskog was TERRIBLE and HORRIBLE.  The poor, tortured, miserable blond bombshell of ABBA.   Life was so hard.  But like, yes she didn't like touring, she didn't like being separated from her children, but she was also a member of ABBA and she did in fact enjoy that feeling of performing on stage.  She certainly preferred being in the studio more than touring, in fact all the ABBA members preferred being in the studio than touring, but she did tour and she did well. 

 

Also kudos to this documentary for being one of the only documentaries to EVER say that the way the Australian press treated Agnetha in regards to her butt was disrespectful.  Every other documentary I've seen if like "omg Agnetha has this sexiest bottom ever" but they don't ever talk about how rude and disrespectful it was to treat her like that.

 

I wish this documentary talked more on that magic of ABBA's music.  The sound, the creation of some of their most incredible songs.  The magical blend between all four of their voices, the layers upon layers of harmonies.  You know, what makes ABBA's sound unique.  But no, why talk about that when you can focus on the drama of it all instead?????

 

On the topic of rare unseen footage, I can tell you with certainty that there is only ~30 seconds of unseen footage. Everything else has been seen before.  The footage is as follows: 1. The ABBA members gathered around the piano in the Polar Music Offices singing acoustic performance of Fernando, but there is talking over it so you can barely hear them. 2. ABBA rehearsing for their Edmonton, Canada Show.  The audio is muted with just talking over it.  3. ABBA either about to go on stage or leaving the stage.  They included this scene around the time of the Boston plane fiasco, possibly indicating that this footage is from Boston but I don't think that's the case.  Maybe it's from the UK or Canada. Who knows.  Regardless, but it has no audio, just talking over the video.  And that's it!!

Yes the 30 seconds of truly unseen footage was a treat, but this documentary was such a disappointment.  Honestly, with the piecing together of different audio segments and interviews, this documentary was very much in the vain of my ABBA In Their Own Words amateur documentary that I put together once.  And I'm only an amateur, I don't have access to archival footage and could only use what I had access to on YouTube, and so far, despite it being 3-4 years since I made it, I only have 1 part, and it only goes up to winning Eurovision.  But my documentary is better.  So if you want to watch a respectful documentary that is actually accurate, why not give my documentary a watch, and honestly, just don't waste your time with these so called ABBA documentaries because they are just so bad.