Oscar-nominated director, Brett Morgen, did the impossible and shed an intimate light and eye-opening understanding on the mastermind behind Nirvana, Kurt Cobain’s, life in his new documentary “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” which premiered on HBO on May 4 and is available for HBO subscribers on HBOGO.

The documentary, that took eight years to complete, included private and personal archives directly from the Cobain family and gave a deeper look into the internal struggles that the misunderstood teenager turned brilliantly disturbed genius had faced, not only in the public eye as the front man of Nirvana, but as a man, a husband and a father. Morgen humanized Cobain by bringing his words and artwork to life — taken straight from the journals he used to keep — with exceptional graphics and gave an empathetic understanding to the person known as the junkie who hated fame and took his own life.

Morgen told Cobain’s full story, from his early childhood, to his first time smoking weed, to when Nirvana first blew up, to his infamous death in 1994, and focused heavily on his relationship with Courtney Love and their daughter Frances Bean Cobain, who worked closely with Morgen as the executive producer on the documentary.

The 22-year-old, who has her fathers piercing blue eyes, told the audience at the premiere of the documentary at The Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles, Calif, “I didn’t know Kurt, but I feel very, very strongly that he would be exceptionally proud of this film. It touches on some dark subjects, but at the end of the day, I think this film provides fans of Nirvana or not fans of Nirvana a basic understanding of who Kurt was as a human being.”

She added, “I think that’s been lost within the romanticism of him and the myth of him and his story.” With the help of Morgen, she was able to get a sense of who her father was, instead of what society pinned him as.

Since this is the first authorized documentary regarding Cobain, Morgen’s access to the family’s private belongings, footage from the his childhood and teenage years, interviews with not only Love, but other family members and ex-girlfriends, this film was more about Cobain’s life and legacy, instead of focusing on why he decided to take his life.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Morgen said Love approached him with an incredible amount of footage that she wanted transformed into an homage to his life. Morgen sad, “I find that you almost feel closer to Kurt when he’s not on camera, through the journals and the audio, where you feel like you’re getting a portal into his psyche.” A majority of the film is Cobain’s artwork and journal entries, written in his handwriting, and the soundtrack also included unreleased music from his old tapes.

There is also home videos that he and Love took while living in their one bedroom apartment where the viewers witness things like the couple being intimate, talking about drugs and music and finding out they’re having a daughter. After the birth of Frances Bean, Kurt explains how he loves her more than he loves anything and the audience can see how badly he wanted to be a great father to his daughter.

One of the most memorable parts of the film was when Cobain and Love were naked in bathroom of their apartment where Love told Cobain, “Why am I always the bad guy?” and it shows their Bonnie and Clyde-like relationship. Many believe that Love was the reason for Cobain’s suicide, but just by their compassion towards each other in their home videos, it is evident that the two did love each other. To see footage taken by the two in their home, with their daughter, and even naked in bathrooms, it’s clear that a television network scripted none of it. They documented their love for themselves, and now the public was witness it as well. There is also concert footage of Kurt explaining to the crowd how it hurts him that she thinks his fans hate her and asks them to scream, “We love you, Courtney.” and they did just that.

In comparison to other documentaries made about the late, great artist, like the 1998 “Kurt and Courtney”, which is basically 95 minutes about how Courtney Love killed her husband, this film was fixated on removing the myth and stigma behind Kurt Cobain’s name and making him human again. The viewers are meant to empathize with the troubled, yet sensitive man, who was ashamed of his own heroin abuse and despised fame.

In the 2005 film, “Kurt Cobain: About A Son”, the documentary focuses on Cobain’s interviews with journalist Michael Azerrad and shows footage of Cobain’s childhood home. There truly is no comparing this film to the intimacy and private material conveyed in “Montage of Heck.”

Brett Morgen did an exceptional job at illuminating the darkness surrounding Kurt Cobain, his name, his legacy and the myth behind him. He showed him as a human, which is the most important thing he could have done.