“From The Sky Down” Details A Band Finding Its Voice—Even While They’re Already On Top

“You must reject one expression of the band before you get to next expression. And in between, there's nothing.” ~Bono

Perhaps no wildly excellent band has successfully redefined their sound as many times as U2—just one of the reasons for my immense respect for this group. The starkly transparent documentary “From the Sky Down” took a look at the fragility of the band and the emotions involved in the making of “Achtung Baby” 20 years later.

At the time, U2 was licking its wounds from a difficult first U.S. tour and the bombastic criticism that came about after the release of the ill-executed “Rattle & Hum.” The disaster around these events allowed doubt to creep in, as they slowly lost their identity and confidence and became seen as the enemy in some quarters. “As an artist, your biggest enemy is your own history,” Bono said at one point.

Some of the inspirations that drove “Achtung Baby” were the new decade, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of machine-age music, and the exploration of the clash of rock and club cultures. The realization was that they needed to risk it all to find a new direction, to reinvent themselves and how they may be perceived.

Bono, who appears to be slowly morphing into Robin Williams as he ages, seemed to be apologizing in his own way for the transformation he was going through as an artist during that time. Bono speaks of the band as a clan, with the music as sacrament, lending context to the behind-the-scenes footage of the band collaborating. The Edge refers to Bono as “one big idea,” leading the way into the discussion of how Bono finds the hook first, then writes the lyrics later, almost abstractly.

This process formed the heart of the most compelling part of this documentary. It was fascinating to hear how combined bridges resulted in a magic moment—the creation of “One”—that they all realized at the time. In some ways, the band felt that the genesis of “One” saved the band, and it was truly emotional to hear the first-person narratives about how that experience played out to each of them personally.

Almost as a defense mechanism against the dissenting voices, “The Fly” became Bono’s parody of a rock star, fueled by Zoo TV. (At one point, he said, “Let's use the force of what's attacking us to defend ourselves.”) In this area and others, the documentary was humorous, showing a self-deprecating collection of gifted musicians capable of looking back on a trying time from a safe place of justified, success-driven confidence.

The story became more about the band and how they needed hard love to find the appreciation of distinct and true personalities that would power them through the doubts and the criticisms. And in the end, “From the Sky Down” exists as, ironically, kind of the reverse version of “Rattle & Hum,” which in some ways is at the heart of this documentary. If their argument is that naivete came across as ego on “Rattle & Hum,” then brutal honesty is the antidote with “From the Sky Down.”

The result is a depiction of what happens when masters in their field deal with doubt for the first time, yielding an intimate portrayal of perhaps the defining band of their generation—warts and all.