Why Oasis breaking up was the best thing that ever happened to the band

The new Oasis reunion film reaches its emotional peaks by turning a spectacular comeback into a story about forgiveness and redemption. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” follows 12 concerts across three continents, but its central drama is more human than logistical: two estranged brothers finding a way back to the band that made them famous.

As Noel Gallagher puts it, “It turns out that the Oasis thing never went away . . .” The film picks up the story left unfinished by Mat Whitecross’s “Supersonic,” which charted Oasis’s rise from Burnage dreamers to Britpop royalty and ended with the band on a high after its 1996 Knebworth concerts.

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It turns out that the Oasis thing never went away . . .

The missing chapter was the bitter split in Paris in 2009, when the brothers’ feud finally exploded backstage. The film revisits that rupture with the characteristic Gallagher bluntness. Liam recalls, “He’s making out as if I’ve stabbed one of his cats,” before reducing the episode to a simple explanation: “Leave it out, mate; we had a little argument.”

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He’s making out as if I’ve stabbed one of his cats.

Writer Steven Knight and directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace give the reunion an epic rock-and-roll treatment. Shot in IMAX, the film looks impressive and technically polished. It also treats music as a force that can bring people together and help both performers and audiences heal.

That polish is also the film’s weakness. Compared with the punky raggedness of “Supersonic,” the new documentary feels heavily orchestrated, with the sheen of corporate spin. The volatile Oasis of old is largely absent. Instead, viewers see the New Oasis, a tightly drilled unit whose reunion depends on Noel staying, Liam appearing at every show and the old implosion not happening again.

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Leave it out, mate; we had a little argument.