A very special world premiere took place in cinema halls all around the world on the 28th of September. Obviously, we are not talking about some adventure, comedy or thriller movie; after all, something like that could hardly have a place on Rockpages. The life of the late and much missed Ronnie James Dio has much more interest and substance than most movies that flood cinemas every week.
This BMG and Trafalgar production is in documentary form and is directed by Don Argott and Demian Fenton while Wendy Dio herself is the executive producer.
The movie begins with Ronald James Padavona’s childhood and his inclination towards music when he started playing the trumpet at a very young age. In the development of the film we are treated with snapshots and photos from his life while great personalities about him as a musician, as a person through the experiences they had with Ronnie when they met him. Wendy Dio, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vinnie Appice, Graig Goldy Eddie Trunk, Mick Wall and many others describe incidents from Dio’s life but also express their admiration for his immense talent and personality. The movie unfolds with great interest up until 1991. I don’t know the reasons why Dio’s second stint in Black Sabbath in 1992 passes almost unnoticed. The same applies for the period of 1993 and the release of “Strange Highways” up to 2007, when Heaven And Hell was born. Maybe during this time the singer was not at his peak -he says so himself- due to the fact that around this time grunge and alternative rock had dominated the whole world, but I would like to see something more from that era when Dio released no less than five records.
Does the movie has a good ending? Yes, it has because we can see Dio retaining his ever present optimism by giving the…devil’s horns to his fans from his hospital bed.
Dimtris Kazantzis
