Common Sense Media Review
By Jennifer Green
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Emotional band docu with death, drugs, and language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In the 1970s, several misfit boys met in high school and formed fast and deep friendships, described in THE RISE OF THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: OUR BROTHER, HILLEL. These friendships merged around the boys' lack of strong families at home, their general interest in mischief-making, and eventually around making music. Hillel Slovak played guitar in a band and convinced his friend Flea to take up the bass. Different iterations of bands eventually led to buddy Anthony Kiedis taking over lead vocals and the launch in the 1980s of the Red Hot Chili Peppers configuration that would become world famous. Hillel died at age 26 of a heroin overdose. The film combines interviews with band members, friends, colleagues, and family members, as well as photographs and videos from their early days, to narrate their personal and professional stories.
Is It Any Good?
This is a sensitive piece of filmmaking with insights into the band's origins as well as how its members today, once head-banging punk rockers, now feel about their lives and legacies. The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel is also a film about the wild and creative milieu of Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s. The use of a digitally engineered voice for Hillel, the beloved bandmate who died of a drug overdose in 1988, could raise eyebrows. But it comes across as natural here in between the other bandmate interviews, which get surprisingly emotional, and alongside montages of their early days and Hillel's original artwork and writings. It's also interesting to reflect on the free-range life of kids in the 1970s, with all its pros and cons, as compared to childhood today.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the various modalities used in The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel to share information about the band, its members, and time period—ranging from interviews and footage to a digital recreation of one person's voice, collages, and news clips. What did you think of these elements, separately and as a whole?
Were you surprised by how emotional the interviewees get in this film? Have you seen other rock documentaries with similar emotional content? In what ways do their reactions demonstrate empathy, both for their younger selves and for the family who lost their son and brother in the 1980s?
How would you say a childhood in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s differed from today? Explain.
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : March 20, 2026
- Cast : Flea , Anthony Kiedis , Hillel Slovak
- Director : Ben Feldman
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : Arts ( Music and Sing-Along ) , Friendship , History
- Character Strengths : Empathy
- Run time : 95 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : March 25, 2026
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