Reviewed by Toby Weidmann
Featuring James Brown, Don King, Muhammad Ali, Bill Withers, BB King, Miriam Makeba, Celia Cruz, Fania All-Stars, The Spinners, Sister Sledge, Steve Levine, Hugh Masakela
Produced by David Sonenberg
Certification UK 12A | US PG-13
Runtime 93 minutes
Directed by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
The moment the Godfather Of Soul, James Brown, steps onto the stage to a blinding cavalcade of flashbulbs and the infectious opening beats of one of his greatest hits, Soul Power captivates the eyes, ears and toes.
This outstanding documentary offers fresh insight into the events surrounding one of the most remarkable fights in boxing history, the Rumble In The Jungle, held in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in the autumn of 1974. However, while the famous world heavyweight title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman has been well-documented elsewhere – most memorably in Leon Gast’s Oscar-winning doc, When We Were Kings – Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s film instead concentrates on the celebrated musical showcase that preceded it, Zaire ’74.
Gathering together many of the leading lights of black music of the time, including James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers and Sister Sledge, and flying them to Africa to perform in their spiritual homeland, Zaire ’74 has become as legendary among the music cognoscenti as the Rumble In The Jungle has with pugilism fans. Using excerpts from the mass of footage shot around the fight – the same reels that were used to create When We Were Kings – Soul Power offers an engrossing snapshot of the trials and tribulations that went into setting up this unique event, from convincing the artists to perform to the logistical (and financial) nightmare of building the huge stage.
And then, of course, there’s the great music, which has all been masterfully remixed for the film. Soul Power includes many of the performances from the three-day event, culminating in James Brown’s typically brassy showcase, including the apposite Say It Loud (I’m Black And I’m Proud), and with the footage having been stuck in legal hell for more than 30 years, this is the first time they have been seen since they were originally performed. While the concert scenes are stunning (The Crusaders’ upbeat Put It Where You Want It and Bill Withers’ elegiac Hope She’ll Be Happier are particularly worthy of note), perhaps even more satisfying are the impromptu outbursts of music – a spontaneous drum session between one of the musicians and a local busker on the streets of Kinshasa is truly breathtaking and makes you want to reach for your own bongo.
Although the focus is overtly on the music festival, the artists and the organisers, boxing fans will be pleased to note that the film does not, nor could not ignore the commanding presence of Muhammad Ali. Scenes featuring The Greatest are scattered throughout the movie and Ali is just as charismatic as he was in When We Were Kings, dominating the screen in every scene he appears, even when he’s just sitting at a table listening to others speaking. Soul Power’s hour and a half running time flashes by far too quickly – extra concert footage on the DVD release, please! – and should satisfy anyone with a passing interest in boxing, the politics and, most importantly, the music of the time. Fortunately, you don’t need to be an expert on soul music, or know how to bust out the funky chicken, to be caught up in Soul Power’s joyous melody and tap your toe to the beat. As Ali says in the doc: “I’ve got ants in my pants, I’ve gotta dance!” The sentiment for the whole film could not be truer…
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SECOND OPINION | Justin Bateman ***½ Making a documentary about a music concert from 1974 could be an interesting exercise in its own right. Making one entirely from rejected footage from another film is not only ambitious but turns out to be a fascinating insight behind the scenes and a marvellous record of the performances on stage. Jeffrey Levy-Hinte was one of the editors on this other film, which just happened to be the Oscar-winning When We Were Kings, a superb piece of filmmaking about the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, Muhammad Ali’s classic boxing match with George Foreman in Zaire. His experiences on this project left him with the unsatisfying notion that there were hours and hours of film unused which, potentially, could make a worthwhile story in its own right. He wasn’t wrong.
The brainchild of musician Hugh Masakela and producer Stewart Levine, the three-day music festival, dubbed “Zaire ‘74”, brought together the world’s most celebrated R&B acts of the day. In combination with the almighty promoting power of Don King, the festival looked set to be a classic with megastar James Brown headlining and Bill Withers, BB King and many others from both the US and Africa all involved. However, as the film reveals, putting on a concert of this scale in Zaire is no simple matter and although the stars are having a whale of a time, meeting Ali, even sparring with him in one particularly amusing episode, behind the scenes confusion often reigns supreme. By using only original footage and eschewing any retrospective interviews or narration, Levy-Hinte drops the viewer right into the moment, capturing the heat of Africa and the feelings of the African-American musicians as they visit their ethnic roots and try to make sense of what they all know is an historic occasion. But while the atmosphere is strong, there is little narrative to speak of which makes it a somewhat dislocated film to watch in parts.
The highlights, perhaps inevitably, are the on-stage performances of the biggest stars of the era. Fans of the music will be in raptures, while even the casual observer should be able to appreciate the exceptional quality of the footage, both in terms of sound and vision, and the climax of the piece, ‘The Godfather of Soul’, James Brown in full swing at his most flamboyant and rambunctious best is truly a sight to behold.
• Official Site
• Soul Power at IMDb