7/10
Revealing documentary, but becomes a little overstuffed by the end
22 March 2023
STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Born in Canada on 1st of July 1967, Pamela Anderson was the country's 'Centenial Baby' (born one hundred years after the country's founding by the US constitution) but was to go on to even greater things. After fleeing an abusive home life, she traveled to America, where she was discovered at a sports game wearing a Labatt's t-shirt, and from there went on to model for Playboy. From there, Pamela's life was thrust in to a whirlwind rollercoaster ride, gaining a starring role in popular TV show Baywatch, a subsequent film career, before a hasty marriage to rock star Tommy Lee, and a sex tape that was stolen. In the present day, she reflects on the past, while preparing to reinvent herself in a Broadway production of Chicago.

As a male belonging to the 'millennial' generation, Pamela Anderson was a name that many of us would remember on our emergence into adolescence. This documentary aims to deliver a more humanised account of the woman behind the fantasy, and reveals a character with more depth and intelligence than was ever hinted at at the height of her fame.

Quite easily the most upsetting revelation on hand is what a damaged soul she actually is, revealing accounts of abuse that she suffered in her home town, and when she arrived in the States, a disturbingly common theme we've learned exists over the years among many young women who were drawn to the pornography industry. Despite the scars she must be carrying from this, Pamela has an undeniable 'survivor' quality, completely refusing to be a victim. It's this strength of character that must have helped her survive the 'sex tape' ordeal she went through, losing a court battle to get it banned, and having to endure the double standard at the time of being shamed as a woman for being involved, while her rocker husband escaped relatively unscathed. She was never accepted as a great actress, but then it may just have been the parts she was offered, never being taken seriously as an ex Playboy model, and so not being given a serious chance to show her range. Hopefully, her shot on Broadway might change people's perception of her.

It reveals a lot, but sadly towards the end it does start to feel a little over-indulgent, with too many events in her later life crammed in just to tell her whole story, without getting enough depth to properly examine them. All the same, it's still a revealing account of a striking individual, as passionate about her campaigning works and as whatever project she gets involved in. ***
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