The icon that the world got wrong
Michael, an autobiographical film directed by Antoine Fuqua, is one of those unique cinematic experience that will have you wondering long after the credits roll. With a heart that feels the weight of that obligation, the film, released on April 24th, 2026, tells the story of one of the most famous artists in history.
The biggest surprise of the film is Jaafar Jackson. Michael’s own nephew steps into his late uncle’s role with an almost supernatural level of commitment. Watching him move, watching him inhabit that signature energy gave the entire audience goosebumps. There were moments where it stopped feeling like a performance and started feeling disturbingly but beautifully real. Fuqua does a great job of carefully crafting Michael’s story. Rather than being thoroughly analysed, the claims, the trial, and the more intense loneliness of his later years are only briefly mentioned. One movie was never going to be enough for a life as complicated as Michael Jackson’s, and you can sense that absence.
When the music dropped, and Jaafar hit the stage, the atmosphere in the theatre shifted completely. People were swaying, gasping, some visibly emotional. It felt like a live concert. That is how powerful Michael Jackson’s music still is, even now, through a screen. The film traces his journey from a young boy in Indiana to the global phenomenon who sold over 400 million records and won 13 Grammys. An artist who has permanently changed the shape of popular music, but beyond the achievements, it also captures the deeply human side of a man the world spent decades misunderstanding. He was generous, sensitive and endlessly complex, yet the world often preferred the caricature over the person.
Michael Jackson is timeless. His songs belong to everyone, every generation and every corner of the world. As Afra Afia (Sophomore, ENH) said, “There were people of every single age in that room, all feeling the same thing.” The film manages to capture that universality even if a sequel will likely be needed to tell the full story, and based on what Jaafar Jackson has already given us, that sequel cannot come soon enough.
