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Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

Posted By: Someonelse
Date: 15 Oct 2011 13:26:00
Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]
DVD9 (VIDEO_TS) | NTSC 16:9 | 01:32:35 | 7,87 Gb
Audio: English AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps | Subtitles: English SDH
Genre: Documentary, Music | USA

Soul Power is a vérité documentary – compiled entirely from footage shot in 1974 – of the astonishing back-to-Africa 3-day music festival “Zaire ‘74”. It was held in Kinshasa ahead of the biggest boxing event of all time: the Muhammad Ali–George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle”. Directed by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, editor of Leon Gast’s Oscar-winning (Best Documentary) When We Were Kings, and sourced from the same archival pool, Soul Power features a legendary line-up of African and African-diaspora musicians – all of whom are at the very peak of their creative powers.

Alongside Ali’s wit and wisdom – profoundly lyrical in its own right – vibrant street scenes of downtown Kinshasa, and “fly-on-the-wall” footage of the festival’s staging, rehearsals, and jams, the three nights of concerts (lensed by Albert Maysles and a host of other legendary cameramen) offer electrifying performances by James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Sister Sledge, Miriam Makeba, The Spinners, Big Black, The Crusaders, Celia Cruz, and many more.

The concert has achieved mythological significance as the definitive Africa(n)-American musical event of the 20th Century and only now, after years of painstaking restoration – legal wrangling prevented an edit and release at the time of filming – Soul Power joins the pantheon of concert film classics, taking its place alongside others of the late-1960s and early-1970s, including Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, Soul to Soul, and Wattstax. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Soul Power for home viewing in the UK for the very first time.

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A couple of years ago a Japanese friend asked me to explain to her what soul music was and I found myself stumped for an answer. It's not that I didn't know, it's just that I couldn't for the life of me put it into words. The more I thought about it the more it struck me that the same thing went for just about any musical genre. Put it this way, I know soul music when I hear it – or at least I think I do – but I'm still not sure I could accurately summarise what defines it.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

I'll state up front that I've always been a little ambivalent towards soul music, aware of its influence, able to recognise key players and songs, but owning precious few tracks that would comfortably sit under that musical umbrella. I'm not sure I've ever listened to an entire soul album in one sitting. And here I was, charged with reviewing a film called Soul Power, whose centrepiece is a concert in which some of the genre's most respected figures do their stuff. And if it's all about the music, was I really qualified to pass judgement on it? After all, if I didn't like it, would it be because it's just not my thing? So before I continue, I need to make three things clear. First, Soul Power is not all about the music. Secondly, as someone not fully versed in the pleasures of soul and R&B music I was able to respond to the acts on the merit of their performances here rather than their reputations or work elsewhere. Thirdly, and most importantly, the concert, the performances and the music itself absolutely blew me away.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

Although deserving to stand on its own cinematic feet, Soul Power inevitably functions as a companion piece to Leon Gast's 1996 When We Were Kings, and with good reason, as the two are linked both by the events they portray and the shared lake of footage from which they both draw. For those not in the know, When We Were Kings told the story of what became known worldwide as 'The Rumble in the Jungle', a celebrated 1974 boxing match in which Mohammed Ali took on George Foreman in an attempt to regain the world heavyweight title that was taken from him after he refused to fight in Vietnam. Organised by sports showman Don King, the bout was to be held in Zaire and accompanied by a music festival – conceived by record producer Stewart Levine and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela – that was to feature some of the leading lights of American soul and African music. Originally designed as a promotional event for the fight and expected to play to the international crowd this titanic clash was expected to attract, the festival faced possible cancellation when an injury on Foreman's part led to the fight being postponed for six weeks.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

With preparations for the festival already well under way the decision was made to go ahead anyway – a capacity local audience was guaranteed (an estimated 80,000 attended) and the event's sizeable budget included a provision to pay for a top flight film crew to record the whole thing for posterity. But after shooting over 125 hours of sometimes priceless footage, the filmmakers were forced by legal wrangles with the Liberian financiers to put the project on hold for a staggering twenty-one years. Leon Gast used some of the footage in When We Were Kings, which won the documentary Oscar but focussed largely on the build-up to the fight and used only a sprinkling of the available concert footage. One of that film's editors, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, became fixated on the idea of revisiting the wealth of unused material with the intention of creating a series of DVDs covering all of the performances in the festival. His quest eventually led to the creation of a single theatrical feature, at least for now, and thirteen years after When We Were Kings and thirty-four after the film material was first shot, Soul Power was born.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

There are some structural similarities to Gast's film in devoting the first third to the build-up to the main event, and there was clearly plenty of material to pick from here, of James Brown introducing his fellow performers to an eager American press, of Ali talking about the public misconception of Zaire (New York is more of a jungle, he claims), of the musicians jamming on the plane, of Ali's first meeting with Brown and a meal shared with locals, of the acts rehearsing and preparing in their dressing rooms. The shift from multiple DVDs to a single feature has forced director Levy-Hinte and his editor David Smith to narrow their focus a little, but their tightly structured 93 minutes still economically succeed in capturing the scale and charged atmosphere of the festival and the sheer range and quality of performers taking part.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

It's in the three-night festival itself, of course, that the film really comes into its own. It's notoriously difficult to capture the true essence of a live concert on film or video, and our over-familiarity with the form – almost every group worth their salt has at least one concert DVD available – can make us a little blasé about the merits of even the best of them. The restrictions placed on camera angles has led to its own set of visual clichés, particularly the modern fondness for crane shots that swoop over the crowd and up into the air like an eagle preparing for a dinner-catching dive. Soul Power is a very different beast, with a primo camera team made up of Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating, Roderick "Kwaku" Young and the legendary Albert Maysles given what looks like full access to every inch of the stage, which infuses the camerawork with a sometimes thrilling energy and intimacy, and collectively provides a masterclass in how to shoot live music.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

The acts themselves are a joy. Not long after the concert itself kicked off I stopped my customary note-taking to just bathe in the music and the on-stage dynamism of the performers. Every number left me opened mouthed and wide-eyed in appreciation and prompted guilt at the gaps it highlighted in my CD collection. Highlights include – and I'll probably end up listing them all because it's impossible to single people out – the synchronous euphoria of The Spinners and OK Jazz, the emotional power of Bill Withers, Miriam Makeba's extraordinary 'Click Song', the towering brilliance of B.B. King, the costumed liveliness of the Pembe Dance Troupe, the jazz-influenced R&B of The Crusaders, the calypso vigour of the Celia Cruz and the Fania All-Stars, the furious rhythms of drummer Big Black, and the ska-flavoured exuberance of Tabu Ley and Afrisa. It all builds to a climactic performance by the great James Brown, and from the moment he takes the stage you're left in no doubt as to why he was and still is held in such high regard, as he explodes into song and dance and radiates the sort of star power and passion for his craft that makes me wish I had just an ounce of musical talent.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

All of which brings me full circle back to my Japanese friend from the opening paragraph, who by chance paid me a visit when I was watching this very film and was thus able to get a clearer answer to her original question than I was able to verbally provide. She quickly became caught up in the live performances, and as she watched BB King giving his guitar a serious workout, she remarked, without taking her eyes of the screen for a second, "I don't know who this is, but he must be some kind of genius." Enough said.

Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

If you're a fan of When We Were Kings then this is a crucial companion piece. If you're a lover of classic soul, R&B and/or African music then consider it an essential purchase. If, as I was, you're not as well versed in the music or the performers as you should be then you'll find no better introduction. A marvellous concert film of what was clearly one of the great music festivals of the modern age. Will someone please give Levy-Hinte the money to get the rest of the material out on disc? Masters of Cinema's DVD looks and sounds terrific, the Blu-ray is even better. Very highly recommended.
DVD Outsider
Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]

Special Features:
- New high-definition transfer of the film
- Exclusive video interview with the director, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
- 30 minutes of deleted behind-the-scenes footage
- Extra concert performances by James Brown, Sister Sledge, the Pointer Sisters, and others
- Optional SDH subtitles for the hard of hearing
Soul Power (2008) [Masters of Cinema #87]


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