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Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) is one of the best-reviewed rock documentaries out there - certainly within recent years. It contained footage and materials never before seen from one of the most iconic figures in rock history, and represented the man in a different tone and with a different image than most other investigations. Still, any picture like this causes people to question elements of its source material, the way its material is represented, and whether or not there’s an agenda behind its creation.

In Montage of Heck’s case, filmmaker Brett Morgen was contacted by the Cobain estate (aka Courtney Love) almost eight years ago. A rare thing for an authorized biography, Morgen got final cut rights to the film. and considers it entirely his production with no ulterior motive.

Morgen told Park Record “With a movie like this, especially when it has to do with someone like Kurt Cobain, people will always ask what the agenda of the filmmaker was. I can say the only agenda I had was to try to create an intimate experience for the viewer with Kurt. I wanted to piece together his life through his own art and media, and I’m super jazzed to do this.”

Any film that shows evidence of something contrary to a person’s original beliefs can make people want to discredit that film. Cobain is a figure whose existence holds a very powerful image in the minds of many. A lot of this film shows a darker side of Cobain that shows him in some not-so-great light, much of which people haven’t seen before. Instead of simply focusing on his musical career, stardom, and Nirvana’s legacy, it takes a look at the man as an individual, a father, a husband, and a deeply-flawed person. It may take some of the reverence out of Cobain’s image for many, and that invites debate.