Summer of Soul (Or..When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Or.....The Revolution That Eventually WAS Televised and Unfortunately Played Like a Documentary Made for CNN.  Last year's Oscar winner for Best Doc. SUMMER OF SOUL is the result of the retrieval of videotaped footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival during the summer of 1969.  Footage which was piecemealed for a network television special and then undisturbed in a basement for fifty years.  Not forgotten, as producer Hal Tulchin lobbied TV execs over the years to use the recordings in some capacity but was repeatedly turned down.  This despite the capture of performances by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson, and B.B. King, and the release of films like WATTSTAX, which documented a similar event on the west coast.

  

Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove, the Renaissance artist known for his stickwork for the Roots and his involvement with Hamilton, directed SUMMER OF SOUL and serves as offscreen interviewer of the surviving artists and others who attended the festival.   Yes, another "talking heads" doc that feels like a million others from cable TV and streaming platforms.  Very deflating for this viewer.  I find this style a bit insulting, as if viewers couldn't come to their own conclusions.  Often, the interviewees make remarks that are patently obvious, except maybe to a person who is visually impaired.  As when someone comments that Nina Simone really pounded those piano keys.....as we watch her do just that. 

At times some of the commentary was in fact as important as the event itself.   Thoughtful observations of the barriers torn down as each musician stormed the stage with talent and righteous vitriol.  None of the artists were shy about their race, or their feelings about our government allocating millions to put a man on the moon while Harlem was wracked with poverty.   I was fascinated by the discussion of how the term "black" was previously considered verboten by the press until the late '60s.  There could in fact have been a separate documentary about the atmosphere surrounding the festival before, during, and after.  I was expecting the show itself, without the tepid contemporary stylings, the attempts to explain the relevance of the music, the underlining of what we see and hear from the truncated footage.

Yes, truncated.  We only get a few of the songs in their entirety.  Inexcusable, Questlove! And you need to go back and get a team to properly restore the footage.  No expense spared!  Call Criterion! Or maybe Peter Jackson! This is an absolutely vital historic document that deserves the royal treatment and an edit of at least two and one half hours, without the latter day discussion, best left to a commentary track on the Blu-ray anyhow.  With all the talk in this movie about how Woodstock happened the same summer and did get said treatment, it's disappointing that SUMMER OF SOUL gets such a hack rescuing.  I'm glad this finally saw the light of day, but hopefully someone will pick up the baton here........