PrimeWire

Incredible musical archives. Incredible also that this event was wiped off collective memory. Collective history.

Not quite 5 stars for me though, despite world-class music segments and crazy historical value. Because the document cannot seem to chose between being a pure film concert and a documentary.

For each major star’s music segment, we cut to either an interview of the same stars today or archives of the civil rights fights at the time. It’s great as a (very much needed) reminder. But as a storytelling device it is disjointed and repetitive. Also, gimme more of those music archives please.

I felt I never knew enough about the event itself. Over how many days did it take place? How many artists? How the heck did they manage that crazy budget? Why was there no second edition?

And pertaining to the film: where were the archives? How were they never shown? How did they end up surfacing? What did it take to make this film happen? This is all part of the remembrance process. Of the wiping-off process, too. I missed that very much.

Anyway. If you just came for the music archives, buckle up. Cos here lies some of the best soul music you’ll ever hear.