Review: 'Once Were Brothers' gives Robbie Robertson the final word on the history of The Band

The documentary “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band” is the story of a rock ’n’ roll survivor — quite literally, because Robertson is still around when most of the rest of his landmark ‘60s-‘70s rock group, The Band, is gone, and therefore Robertson gets the last word.

It’s a rollicking story, stretching from Robertson’s Canadian and First Nations roots to the early days of rockabilly, from a landmark gig backing Bob Dylan to creating one of the most beloved music groups — the pioneers of what now we call Americana rock.

Robertson is a major part of that story, as lead guitarist and principal songwriter. The fact that bandmates Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Levon Helm are dead — and keyboardist Garth Hudson, living his old age in Woodstock, N.Y., isn’t interviewed here — means Robertson, by default, tells the story his way.

As a guitar-loving teen in Toronto, Robertson’s band got a chance to open for Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, the most amazing rockabilly band Robertson had ever heard of. Robertson says he was most impressed with the Hawks’ rapid-fire drummer, Levon Helm. When Robertson got a chance to audition for Hawkins’ band, he high-tailed it to Arkansas and got the job. Robertson and Helm became instant best friends, handling arrangements for Hawkins’ songs and ultimately filling the band with Robertson’s Canadian friends: Hudson, Danko and Manuel.

That backup band became a band of their own, and on an early recording session ran into Bob Dylan. They seemed like an odd pairing — the folksinger and the rockabilly kids — but they recognized great talent in each other. When Dylan decided to “go electric,” and cross over from folk to rock, the quintet became his backup band, taking the boos and thrown bottles at every tour stop.

Finally, these five friends started recording in their own right, in a homemade studio in an ugly pink house they bought in Woodstock, N.Y., at the urging of Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman. Those sessions formed the backbone of “Music From Big Pink,” The Band’s landmark first album.

Director Daniel Roher collects new interviews from Robertson as well as a lot of friends — among them Hawkins, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Taj Mahal, Peter Gabriel, Jann Wenner, David Geffen and Martin Scorsese (who directed The Band’s famous 1978 concert film “The Last Waltz,” and is executive producer here). Roher also collects a wealth of archival film and photos, as well as old interviews from the now-deceased bandmates and George Harrison.

Still, it feels like something’s missing, and that’s any rebuttal to Robertson’s version of the history of The Band. Robertson talks briefly about the animosity Helm harbored for Robertson after the band’s demise, which the film argues was largely attributable to heroin use by Helm, Manuel and Danko — who aren’t able to defend themselves or talk about their lives after “The Last Waltz.” (For example, Helm had a successful movie career, debuting as Loretta Lynn’s father in “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”)

For all its flaws, though, “Once Were Brothers” transports the viewer back to the days of rock’s beginnings, with a band that had a ringside seat for so much of the genre’s history — as well as creating bits of that history, with songs like “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” songs that feel fresh and ancient every time you hear them.

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‘Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band’

★★★

Opened Friday, February 21, in select cities; opens Friday, February 28, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for some language and drug references. Running time: 102 minutes.