Joy Division are one of those bands that make me feel like someone has amped up the voltage to my cerebrum every time I hear '' or see Ian Curtis loosing all sense of space and time as he fits about on stage.

The story of this band has been told before including the recent Anton Corbijn movie 'Control' (which was actually very good), but as far as documentaries are concerned, the most recent simply titled 'Joy Division' is must-see viewing for anyone remotely interested in rock history, or more technically as this case may be - punk history.

Director Grant Gee has put together what is easily the most credible portrait of the band, factual accounts which are personally narrated by nearly every significant person who was close to the band, including the surviving members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris (who went on to form New Order), Tony Wilson, Anton Corbijn, Annik Honore (Curtis's Mistress) and too many others to name here.

Although 'Joy Division' gives us the good insight into why the original 3 british lads formed the band (they recruited Curtis later) and what motivated them (stuff Joy Division fans already know), things get much more interesting when it explores some of the possible reasons for Curtis's suicide, and how they reacted to the news 30 years ago.

Naturally set to Joy Division's music, this documentary uses much archive footage of Manchester England at the time which gives a wonderful sense of 'being there'.

Gee has also amazingly managed to get his paws on previously unseen footage of the band during live performances, the sort of stuff that probably would never have seen the light of day if it weren't for this documentary.

This is all genuine commentary. There is no fancy editing for dramatic effect although it's a very slick production. It's easily the best 'rockumentary' I have seen so far. It's so good I can't picture another documentary about Joy Division ever being made.

4 out of 5.