ReelBob: ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song’ ★★★½

How a song by poet-troubadour and spiritual seeker Leonard Cohen impacted music, other musicians and all our lives.

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is a song you may believe you know because you have heard it so many times, sung by so many artists.

But as the documentary, “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song,” explains, the song has many iterations — some rewritten by Cohen himself — and adapted by other singers who have added their individual touches to the lyrics.

The song first appeared on Cohen’s 1984 album, “Various Positions,” which was not released by his record company, Columbia Records, in the United States. It was marketed overseas where it gained popularity.

Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine use archival interviews with Cohen, as well as interviews with other singers, songwriters and record executives, to trace Cohen’s career and the evolution of the song.

Cohen, who was Jewish, was born in Canada. He was an individual who had struggles with God. He was, as one interviewee said, “a spiritual seeker.” Cohen originally was a poet who, when he turned to song, considered himself a minstrel, a troubadour.

Cohen’s initial lyrics, he said, were “a desire to affirm my faith in life,” but not in a formal religious way.

Cohen kept reworking the lyrics to “Hallelujah,” making it more secular and sexual. He had notebooks filled with alternative lyrics, which he would perform at times.

Among the people who covered the song were Bob Dylan, Bono, Brandi Carlisle, K.D. Lang, Rufus Wainwright and Eric Church.

The song entered the mainstream when it was covered in 1991 by John Cale. His arrangement opened the floodgates. The song gained further distinction when a 1994 version by Jeff Buckley was released, and when Cale’s recording was used in Pixar’s “Shrek.”

The many adaptations of the song pushed it into the secular world, so much so that it has been sung at weddings, funerals, TV song-competition shows and regular television series.

Interestingly, Cohen was not wedded to any one version of the song and did not seem to mind how others adapted it.

But “Hallelujah” is not just about the song. It looks at Cohen’s career, the eras in which he performed and the song’s rise and impact around the world.

Fans of Cohen and the song will find the movie entertaining and illuminating.
“Hallelujah” puts a spotlight on Cohen’s laborious creative process. Unlike songwriters who could bang out a lyric in 15 minutes while riding in a taxicab, Cohen took years refining his words and their context to the whole of the song.

The film details Cohen’s complexities and his continual search for spirituality, which he tried to achieve in life, his poetry and his music. And we all are better for it.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG
3½ stars out of 4
(PG-13), strong language, some sexual material