Invited by the San Francisco Film Society to attend this special screening at the Landmark Theater in San Francisco’s Embarcadero One, I was drawn by the premise of black music driving the civil rights movement.
As the story started to unfold, a series of well-captured interviews, with individuals that had direct involvement with the civil rights movement, as well as with Doctor Martin Luther King, were presented, intercut with references to, and examples of, popular songs of the time – “We Shall Overcome,” as an example. A statement made early in the film was that song was an accepted and practiced form of communications amongst the black communities, particularly in the southern states.
Archival footage, that has been well-aired in the past, was shown alongside some new, rarer film content, that effectively showed the perspective of those facing, and standing up to, segregation and bigotry. For me, the most poignant aspect of this piece of history was the peaceful response given by the persecuted, to those who were clearly abusing law enforcement privileges. These were scenes that we readily condemn when we see them in Iran or China. It is amazing to think that these same actions occurred so recently in our history.
The timeline of the movie aligned approximately to the rise in power of Martin Luther King, to his demise when shot by a sniper. During this timeline, modern-day musicians played studio-recorded cover versions of civil rights-era songs. Musicians included Wyclef Jean, Joss Stone and John Legend.
A question and answer sessions followed the movie, a panel being made up of executive producer Danny Glover, the co-directors, and the director of photography.
As the film progressed, I felt that the tie-in to the music, which seemed to be such a significant part of the movie judging by its title, was somewhat tenuous. The use of old slave songs, and other protest songs and chants that were developed during the civil rights protests, did not seem to be fully explored, providing, instead, a very thin thread of connectivity along the Martin Luther King timeline. I would have been more drawn to the use of modern music, of the type played on the radio, at that time, as an indicator of how the movement was progressing. Maybe there was no such thing.
The movie did a good job of drawing me in to the history of this movement but I felt it stopped short. Glover mentioned that the work of the movement continues to this day, and yet access to more contemporary music such as rap, hip hop, and reggae, that all plays a part, was not brought in to the story. It would have been fascinating to see the transition of the movement from a dependency on traditional songs and chants, only heard in homes, on streets, and in churches, to musical styles that developed in the last half of the 1900′s, and heavily influenced what many of us listen to today.
Soundtrack for a Revolution is a well produced documentary, reviving the history of the civil rights movement. The musical tie-in is not all it could have been, and there is little that is really new in this film, compared to previous productions. I hear that the movie may be nominated for an Oscar – good luck with that.
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