Soul Power

source: Soul Power

Jeffrey Levy-Hinte's film 'Soul Power'is a remarkable concert documentary that was filmed in Zaire in 1974,as part of the Muhammad Ali/George Forman fight,known as The Rumble In The Jungle. This was a 12 hour,three night festival of musical talent from various parts of Africa,as well as the United States. The film begins with footage of the preparations for the concert,and the red tape and b.s. that goes along with putting on a concert of grand scale. Once the music begins,it's no holds barred. The musical talent includes,James Brown,The Crusaders,Miriam Makeba,B.B. King,The Fania All Stars (with the late,great Celia Cruz), The Spinners,and a host of others. Interview footage of Muhammad Ali, Don King,and others representing the boxing match also figures as a foot note (for further details,check out Leon Gast's 'Once We Were King',which Levy-Hinte edited),about the actual match itself). The music will have you stomping holes in the floor of the cinema that is screening it. Rated PG-13 by the MPAA,this films contains a rude word or two,and some mature thematic elements

The scene is the setting of the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' world heavyweight fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The event is Zaire '74, a three day music festival in Kinshasa that featured black artists from both America and Africa. To this end we have a selection of soul, R&B, funk and blues mixed in with popular African music of the day. The event attracted a few big name American artists such as James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, The Spinners and The Crusaders. But what added to the overall feel of the event was that it uniquely allowed for the African-American musicians to not only perform to a whole new appreciative audience but to also return to their spiritual African roots. The film is sort of unique because of its historical context where a group of film-makers were paid to professionally document everything but financial red tape resulted in the footage remaining unseen for over thirty years. Not only does this give the material an extra interest factor in itself but it has allowed for a new documentary to be made entirely using old unseen footage. Wisely, the editors have decided to only use footage from the time, with no contemporary interviews of participants looking back at events and reminiscing. This achieves two things in that it makes the material seem more urgent and of the time, while also attempting to finish the project that was abandoned over three decades previously by only using the footage actually shot. It documents events from the pre-concert stages through to the finale of the show. The details surrounding the event, like snippets of the locals, interviews with the participants and behind the scenes details make it a very interesting and rounded historical document. The fight itself is marginalised, although we do hear promoter Don King in full flow and Ali is seen several times letting fly with many of his opinions on race-related issues of the day. The music itself perhaps doesn't get as much of a showcase as it might but I think overall by including all of the periphery details the film-makers have captured a time and place even better.

What was so surprising (to me at least) is that this footage existed. The fact that it wasn't put together/released until 2008 is secondary. This is NOT a movie about a concert. It's a documentation of an event process, meaning there's more to it than guitars, drums and singers. It was filmed in 1974 in Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo). To expect anything different, fit into one-and-a-half hours, is ridiculous. There's enough material to make 6 hours worth of documentaries. Although the movie does eventually give us the names of the major players in credits, it would have been nice to flash those names once the actors/participants first appeared on the screen.

Soul Power is a sizzling documentary which shows a glimpse of Africa in the early 70s, some of the greatest Afro-American entertainers at a difficult transitional stage in American history, Muhammad Ali, and the hijinks of staging a massive festival in the age of walkie-talkies. This review is primarily meant to address the pans which dismiss Soul Power for being composed of stock footage, and to correct the assertion that Miriam Makeba is the only African performer to appear. In the first case, it's NOT stock footage. It's footage that, for whatever reason, was unable to be edited or released within a reasonable period after the event. The footage was certainly shot with the aim of creating a film much like the one presented. Only now there is a patina of history which adds a huge dimension to the film. The film quality is exactly what should be expected for a documentary of this era, shot in Africa, and any expectations otherwise are naive. It's likely that the film would have been edited differently had it been released in 1974 or 1975; the engrossing build-up would probably have been shorter, and the actual concert element would have been longer (my only qualm with the film). But we don't know what additional footage exists (aside from the deleted scenes), so there may not have been many options for the editors. And certainly, film stock buried for nearly four decades is susceptible to damage (see the deleted scene featuring Muhhamad Ali, the GOAT, leaving for Africa). In view of the circumstances, the footage is often gorgeous. Some of the conversation snippets are so fascinating they seem scripted. In addition to Miriam Makeba, there is a wonderful dance troupe who take the stage as well as Tabu Ley Rochereau and his band Afrisa, and OK Jazz- probably the biggest names in African music during the 1960s/70s before Fela Anikulapo Kuti's ascendancy- and their performances are stunning (with an additional Tabu Ley set piece in the deleted scenes). Overall, a great flick.

As around 17 million British TV watcher settled down to watch the dross that was The X Factor (I could spend hours explaining why Simon Cowell and Company are ruining British Pop Music!) some of us more enlightened souls escaped to the cover of our local film club to enjoy some truly talented musicians getting on in Zaire (as the country was known in 1974). This wonderful film tells the story of the three day festival given by Afro American/African musicians that accompanied the famous 'Rumble In The Jungle' World Heavyweight Title fight between Ali and Foreman (for the fight itself you must see 'When We Were Kings', outstanding documentary covering the events surrounding the fight). The film has been pieced together from footage taken at the time and gives a insight as to what happened in the run-up to the 3 day festival, as well as presenting the best of the music performed on stage. Thankfully the pre-festival events are kept to a minimum - just enough to give you a clear idea as to the politics involved - and the bulk of the film is occupied by the music - and what great music it is! BB King, The Spinners (the black soul group, not the British folk one!), many African musicians (whoses names I am ashamed to say have escaped me for the time) etc all on the top of their form, then... The Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother Number One, The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz... MR JAMES BROWN! If you are not blown away by what is shown of his performance then you have no soul! Blistering is hardly the word! Watching him perform reminds you of just what a towering talent the world lost a few Christmases ago when he sadly departed this world - God rest you James, and thanks for the music. One other point that makes this film so worthwhile is the incidental scenes on the streets of Kinshasa where local musicians play for the sheer joy of giving the world music. There is one unnamed band on a street corner with amps, mikes the whole shebang just jamming away - amazing! Normally as the end titles role the audience get up and start to leave - but not this time! Only two people left half way during the end titles, the rest stayed until the screen went blank and the curtains came across, applauding all the time! Never have I witnessed that before, a fitting tribute to a film that deserves to be seen again, and again, and again etc! Forget all the dross that programmes like the X Factor inflict on the world, this is music as it should be, with heart and more soul in one note than in every single record that Simon Cowell has, or ever will, produce!

"When We Were Kings" was a great film with soul and spirit explaining how this music festival and a world boxing match with Ali wound up in Zaire in 1974. I was hungry for more. This short film just has 20 minutes of music and a lot of boring pointless dialog. Leon Gast had been hired to do the rockumentary of the festival so presumably the whole thing is on film. Most of the performances must still be on filmstock in Gast's apartment. This film is a disgrace and feels like the leftovers from "When We Were Kings" Pros: Anytime James Brown or Muhammad Ali is on screen the world lights up. Miriam Makeba is awesome! Cons: Only one song by Bill Withers. Only one song by BB King. Only one song by Miriam Makeba.

At the time of this writing, media is still mourning, marketing or doing into sordid details of the recently departed Michael Jackson. What most people know or should know is one of Jackson's most favorite performers was James Brown. Brown was clearly the headliner of this historic concert festival that took place in Zaire in 1974. There were other performers that came over on the airplane to perform. Among them were the vocal group the Spinners, the instrumental group the Crusaders, B.B. King with his group and the Cuban Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz. In fact, it's Cruz's group that's shown leading the impromptu jamming and singing though in fact, they're singing in Spanish. We also get plenty of Don King, legal counsel Ian Strafford and Muhammed Ali. The fight is postponed due to a finger injury by George Foreman who's not shown at all. This film is best seen with WHEN WE WERE KINGS to provide better context. Ali's black pride and complaints about the white man are recorded but this doc should have been more about the music. But perhaps it's needed as Brown also makes his opinions known. We get to see King going through his set list but only his hit "The Thrill is Gone" is showcased. Except for Brown, the rest of the performers also get just one song. There were a number of African performers but only Miriam Makeba out of them get one song. Brown gets three songs and I thought the costume he was wearing a bit odd. He was into fusion jazz funk at this time which was not as commercial as his earlier hits. He also gets the last line to end the movie. "God d**n it, you are somebody" he says as he looks into the camera. Soul Brother Number One.

Soul Power is the story of the legendary concert in which Don King promoted a concert full of African American soul artists. There was also a fight between Muhammed Ali and George Foreman. I walked in expecting a soulful vibe and a fun time. I walked in expecting wrong. The film is just stock footage thrown together with no real story or fun behind it. There are very few good things. One thing is that in the first half they somewhat intrigue us with the question: will this concert actually happen? In the second half, they leave that question, and basically show boring stock footage with a couple of good shots thrown in. You can tell the filmmakers aren't really trying to tell us about the concert as much as throwing stock footage together. It's a film that just leaves the audience bored. Also, I wanted less of the stock footage and more of the back story. It doesn't answer the questions I wanted it to. Muhammed Ali has a couple of good interviews, but I wanted to see more of the back story of the fight and how the fight was connected with the concert. It was just a boring movie that's essentially stock footage thrown together. This can only be described as one thing...boring.

Entertaining. Nice to see Muhammad Ali and James Brown and Celia Cruz and the dance styles of the Crusaders. The other African performers were on top of their acts, too. You will look back on James Brown's bid to give some direction to the black movement as uncomplicated. And it is nice to see that so much as changed in the way of overt discrimination in the U.S. I felt that I wanted to see a 4 hour movie. I wanted to see the entire concert, and that is good. It has a really funny part wherein Muhammad Ali plays with someone. I won't tell you what it is about. James Brown pleads with you to go out on the side walk and tell yourself: "I am somebody". I loved the performance by Cuban artist and Diva Celia Cruz. There were no negatives in the movie except that much of it is hand-held, grainy color. Again, I just wanted it to go on and on. I got my monies worth.