Soul Power (Sunday, July 12, 2009) (89)

There's an age-old question about which is the best concert documentary. The Last Waltz, Woodstock and Gimme Shelter are my top three. Soul Power is not as good as those, but it is very good.

In 1974, in advance of the Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire, two concert promoters organized a gigantic R&B festival showcasing some of the best musical acts of the era, as well as some big Afro-pop acts. The talent includes, James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, The Spinners, Miriam Makeba and Celia Cruz.

The film begins with a title that says that the concert was paid for by a Liberian investment group, who also put up money to make a movie about the show (though, it's never explained why it took 35 years to make the film). We see footage of the stage and venue being set up in Kinshasa inter-cut with the performers getting from New York to Zaire. This background material is wonderful as it allows ample time for the performers to speak about Black Power and 'going home to the motherland', all the while, we see white Suits (literally - and in the African summer heat) freaking out about details and logistics of the show.

There are three nights of concerts where the American R&B artists alternate with African musicians. The three nights of concert are split up with footage of the life in Kinshasa including local musicians performing on the street and the stars talking politics. It's a whole lot of wonderful texture and edited beautifully. There is a wonderful moment where we see conga drummer Big Black playing the drums and then a cut to Muhammad Ali beating on the chair he sits on as he waits for an interview.

Oh, and Ali. He's in the film a lot and he's wonderful. He's funny and quick and clever. He's totally himself and totally original.

The music in the film is totally amazing - really, really great. Happily, each artist gets one full song. Sadly, only James Brown gets more than one song. Running around 90-minutes, there's no reason I see why other artists couldn't have played a few more songs too.

Bill Withers plays a beautiful version of 'Hope She'll be Happier' - which was totally wonderful, but sad because it's certainly one of his less known songs (I imagine that night he also played 'Grandma's Hands' or 'Ain't No Sunshine' or 'Sweet Wanomi' - and those are all better known. Maybe this is good to expose people to smaller songs, but I think it was a missed opportunity). At another point, B.B. King talks about his set list and I was dying thinking of all the amazing songs he was going to play. Then we see him play only one song, which was again very sad.

The costumes the artists wear onstage are amazing - so was their hair. It's hard to give anyone credit for this, as they were wearing what they wore at the time, but it was great. James Brown wears a jumpsuit with G.F.O.S. (Godfather of Soul) in rhinestones on the belt. He did the splits a handful of times and was amazing. The Spinners wore white suits with lightning bolts all over them. Miriam Makeba wore a great dress and had the coolest braided mohawk I've ever seen. The logo for the show, Zaïre '74, is fantastic and is used throughout the picture.

Again, it's strange that this movie is just put out with no explanation about what took so long to make it. The director, Jeffret Levy-Hinte, was a producer on 'When We Were Kings', and the director of that film, Leon Gast, appears in one scene of this film and is a producer of it. I wish I had known more about the background here.

This is close to an 'instant classic' in terms of concert films - but not in that top tier of amazing ones. I can see really enjoying the soundtrack, assuming it comes out, and watching this again. It just is lacking a few details that stop it from being perfect. If nothing else, it's a bit too short and I wish there was more.

Stars: 3 of 4