Iron Maiden – Burning Ambition (Documentary)
Iron Maiden – Burning Ambition (Documentary)
Universal Pictures International
07/05/26
Review by Victor Augusto
I always had a great doubt about how maniacal an Iron Maiden fan could be in different countries in this world. At least where I live, a Maiden fan can be really annoying, but in a good way. Let me explain it with a good example that happened in my childhood. My older brother was a person who practiced what I call “Musical Bullying” because when he loves a song or an album, he literally repeats the same song or the same album 24 hours a day, and It’s not a joke. I remember him repeating a couple of songs for hours, without giving a break for one single minute.
About his love for Maiden, it was in the same direction: hearing the entire discography released at that time (1993), every day, from the debut album until one of the live albums, which was when Bruce Dickinson left the band. Well, traumas apart, it made me know Heavy Metal, and just years later I became a fan of them, but not so maniac as the other ones. Actually, I think that my love for Maiden is more related to the memories of the good and calm place where I was living when my brother did this “bullying” musical education, and my first Heavy Metal concert as a teenager was Rock in Rio 2001, which became a magical and beautiful DVD.
I think that Maiden always knew about this insane passion coming from their fans, and now, they decided to put out a movie dedicated to them, because this video is nothing related to a proper documentary. The reason is quite simple, it’s because Maiden has released good and complete documentaries in each live DVD that they re-released not so long ago. I remember DVDs telling the first couple of albums with Paul Di’Anno until the joining of Bruce to the band, another DVD talking about the Powerslave tour, and also one talking about the last two albums with Adrian Smith on guitars. All of these DVDs contain very detailed images and interviews of that era.
Probably this time, they just did a kind of “abstract” of their entire career, including the left of Bruce, the hard days with Blaze Bayley until the last show of Nicko McBrain, in 2024. The great elements here are the new animations for the classic songs with Eddie acting inside the concept of the album covers that they were mentioning. There are a couple of famous artists, such as Scott Ian, telling about the band, and many different fans from different parts of the world sharing their years as dedicated fans.
I confess I enjoyed the dynamic of the documentary, because they prioritize images and videos, having just the voice of the members talking about the theme in question, which lets the movie not look like a regular interview. The fans always appearing to talk about one specific era gives an extra spice, especially with their different cultures coming from different countries. They also have different jobs, but somehow they find extra time to dedicate their passion for this band.
The only thing that I thought was a bit melancholic is how I felt this movie sounded like a farewell. Maybe the fact that the last chapter was Nicko telling about his stroke and his last show in São Paulo (Brazil), then Harris saying he will tour until they can’t, but I really felt it as a farewell, despite it being a great video and I believe they still can make new young fans with this content.
Another detail I miss is the fact of the lack of a proper and detailed DVD, telling about when Janick Gers joined the band, also the Blaze Bayley era, but we all know that DVD’s and detailed documentaries are not the most interesting thing for the audience nowadays, so I believe this movie was the best way to give a short view of Maiden careers for the new fans out there.
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