Vague Visages’ Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe review contains minor spoilers. Cosima Spender’s 2024 documentary (released theatrically in 2025) features Andrea Bocelli, Veronica Berti and Zucchero. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

As politics continue to divide people via blinding shades of blue and red, Andrea Bocelli transcends above the madness by communicating what’s in his heart. Born in 1958 with a disorder called congenital glaucoma, the renowned Italian tenor learned valuable life lessons after his world went fully dark at age 12 while playing goalie in a boarding school soccer match. Cosima Spender’s heartwarming documentary Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe examines the subject’s point of view, from his country roots riding horses to his 1994 big break at the Sanremo Music Festival to his 2005 transition into a recognizable pop culture figure. The 107-minute film often plays like a religious revival, due to the underlying music from scene to scene and the overall existential themes, with Bocelli himself frequently discussing the importance of faith, family and friends while making career decisions.

“There’s nothing impossible in this world,” Bocelli says during one of the documentary’s most revelatory moments. Structurally, Spender shifts between the past and present as the subject muses about opera being “music’s heaven.” By fully detailing Bocelli’s early days, and all the things he enjoyed before fully losing his sight, the director helps the audience better understand the singer’s perspective, and why hobbies and/or one-time experiences, like horse-riding and sky diving from 5,000 feet, don’t seem like a big deal. The subject is rarely alone in the documentary, always surrounded by his second wife/current manager Veronica Berti and typically accompanied by his vocally talented daughter Virginia, which at one speaks to the musician’s greatest fears and strengths — loneliness and family, respectively. Beyond the film’s most intimate moments featuring the subject’s inner circle, Italian icons like Zucchero and Luciano Pavarotti grin ear-to-ear while recalling their friendship with the country boy from Lajatico. Of course, it’s the epic concert performances that demonstrate Bocelli’s ability to connect with fans across the world.

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Bocelli’s competitive nature stands out in Spender’s documentary. He speaks extensively about singing techniques, and compares his vocal muscle training to a gym work-out. The subject cites fellow icons like Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour, Ornella Vanoni and Mina as influences, which in turn sheds light on his career-long willingness to explore various genres of music. If many people these days cling to labels and figurative uniforms — a backwards effort to claim individuality and/or a “personality” — Bocelli politely insists that he’s not interested in wearing blinders (no pun intended, believe me). In fact, the documentary’s most touching moments involve the subject speaking plainly and poignantly about his life as a whole. “I felt it,” says Bocelli while reflecting about a career-changing opportunity in 1994. He also states that “losing is not for me” before addressing the concept of opera as a challenge. Bocelli claims victory, and he does so without displaying a smirk or using body language as a means to convey a sense of bravado (something he learned from friends during his teenage years). Even the subject’s wife, the aforementioned Berti, keeps it simple while discussing her husband’s “clean break” with his original manager. Nobody gets thrown under the bus. Words aren’t weaponized.

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Given that Bocelli co-produced Spender’s documentary, it’s fair to acknowledge that some scenes appear to be staged for his benefit. For example, a free-flowing conversation between the subject and his young daughter seems like it was peppered with convenient questions that thematically align with the documentary’s title. Of course, such back-and-forth chats might’ve been culturally lost in translation on my end as an American viewer (albeit one with an Italian-American heritage and multiple visits to the homeland). During my initial experience with Spender’s film, the questions from Bocelli’s daughter seemed too polished and formal for a casual conversation. Take that as a compliment.

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In the late 2000s, I attended a Bocelli concert with friends from Parma, Italy at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a spiritual experience — one that I won’t forget, and one that I often try to recreate via YouTube, headphones and good wine. Now, in 2025, while viewing Spender’s documentary and observing her subject’s gentle demeanor, I was reminded of something that could further elevate a Bocelli concert experience: closed eyes and a willingness to embrace all the feelings that emerge in the moment. Yes, Maestro, there’s nothing impossible in this world. And what a world it would be if we could all “log off” from time to time to acknowledge what’s at the core of our shared existence: faith in family, faith in friends and faith in authentic communication.

Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe released theatrically on September 21, 2025.

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Q.V. Hough (@QVHough) is Vague Visages’ founding editor. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film essays at Vague Visages.