Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy

"At about the halfway point in director Mark Joffe's adaptation of Jimmy Barnes' stage show and memoir Working Class Boy, Barnes' band begins a rendition of Cold Chisel's classic Flame Trees. In a slower rendition of one of Australia's greatest rock anthems, Barnes' gravelly seasoned voice delivers this stinging lyric: "Who needs that sentimental bullshit, anyway? Takes more than just a memory to make me cry.""

"Lots about the man, little about the band, but this film about Barnesy’s troubled life has a humanistic message at its core."

"Never mind all the hits, never mind the brilliance as a singer of soul, blues and ballads, apart from rock; the man has enormous reserves of strength. That's so attractive on screen: he has survived."

"There's also a feeling that he's holding back here. His own "behaviour patterns" are only mentioned obliquely, while Barnes himself admits that "some stuff is too difficult to talk about". No doubt a unauthorised biopic may one day fill in those gaps."

"Moving, confronting and yet, a distinct pleasure to watch, the fine Australian-made documentary Working Class Boy examines two disarmingly vivid subjects for the price of one."

"...rips the top off the myth of the hard-boozing Aussie rocker to show the pain and trauma underneath."