New documentary on Madonna

Popstar and defined by her constant of reinvention, Madonna, is offering her audience the bait of deeper personal life insights, through a new documentary that will be premiering shortly.

In chronicling Madonna’s life while on the 2004 Re-Invention Tour, "I’m Going To Tell You a Secret" follows in the footsteps of the 1991 documentary, "Truth of Dare" as it was known in the United States and re-titled, "In Bed With Madonna" for the European market, that had profiled the diva’s Blonde Ambition Tour.

Madonna, who hit the red carpet at a special screening of "I’m Going To Tell You a Secret" co-hosted by MTV, insists that she has changed considerably in the period between the two documentaries.

She said, "Well, I am different. I mean a lot has happened to me between that film and this film, so, I’ve changed, my views in life have changed, hopefully I’ve grown up, evolved, I have a family, have children, and I don’t know, I hope that that the movie is a reflection of that evolution."

The evolution that Madonna refers to is reflected in the documentary through themes like her spiritual growth. In one scene, she discusses God and faith with her music director-turned producer Stuart Price.

During the course of following Madonna from the opening night of her Re-Invention Tour to the final Lisbon show, the documentary presents close-up views of Madonna assembling music, interacting with dancers, while increasingly asking more existentialist questions and seeking more answers.

While speaking about the experience of shooting the documentary, Madonna said, "It meant that I didn’t have any down time, it meant you know there was no such thing as time off when I was on tour. I mean I did have time off but when you are on the road and you’re being filmed, it’s doubly exhausting."

For Jason Akerlund, director of "I’m Gonna Tell You a Secret", one of the biggest challenges while shooting the film was taking on the "fly-on-the-wall" approach that he wanted from the outset.

While talking about the documentary, Akerlund said, "The film is about everything that she (Madonna) thinks is important in life right now and it’s a lot of spirituality and it’s a lot about creativity and it’s a lot about her thoughts and you know, where she is today as a grown woman."

Price, who has co-produced Madonna’s new album, "Confessions on A Dance Floor", to be released this November, is a part of the fabric of Madonna’s life in "I’m Gonna Tell You a Secret". At the time of the filming, he was the musical conductor on Madonna’s Re-Invention tour.

Price insists that the film presents lesser-known and understood sides of Madonna. He said, "This is the whole, this documentary is a big insight into so many areas of Madonna’s life that I think people probably haven’t seen yet, and even people who’ve followed her a long time don’t really know what she’s like with her family and what’s she like with her band and what she’s like with all those kind of things. I think she can be misunderstood for a lot reasons."

Madonna agrees to let the camera capture moments with her children, Lourdes and Rocco in the documentary, which will be debuting on MTV and will air on VH1 and Logo, a division of MTV Networks, the coming week.