Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Soundtrack for a Revolution: Review

Soundtrack for a Revolution
Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman


Sigh.

What am I doing with my life?

I think I should do more.

This is a film that will inspire you, entertain you, educate you, and also make you realize that doing the dishes and the laundry in the same day isn’t accomplishing a lot. These people did something. They changed the world: fighting against the machine, the man, and against centuries old, entrenched bigotries that were literally the law. And they did it all with peace and patience … and song.

The documentary not only takes a fascinating look at the civil rights movement in the U.S. but also at the songs and music that were part of the movement. We hear the archival music that was played and sung at nearly every gathering and we also get new treatments of the songs by some modern artists.

At no point are we overwhelmed by the music. The music and the story inform each other; indeed, the oral tradition of song is one of the few things the slaves that were forced to America had. It’s fitting then, that on the cusp of finally gaining their true freedom, that it was old Negro spirituals that inspired their cause.

The film explores dangers that protestors (in the U.S. or Canada) can hardly imagine today. The threat of jail was light compared to the very real dangers of beatings, castrations and countless murders that were perpetrated against the civil rights marchers. And yet there were not bowed. They carried on, peacefully, until a country was finally shamed into acting. The film weaves archival footage with current interviews and of course, with the soaring, beautiful music.

One of the marchers says, “We were ordinary people who did extraordinary things.” They certainly did. This is why this documentary, like many well made documentaries, makes you think about your own life, and what you’ve done with it. Soundtrack, Shake Hands with the Devil, H2Oil, Crude and other documentaries call to your conscience and ask like a dying Sean Connery in The Untouchables, “What are you prepared to do?”

Point of Interest: The executive producer for Soundtrack for a Revolution is Danny Glover, a man familiar with social causes. Another film that Mr. Glover takes part in, is Unprecedented: the 2000 Presidential Election. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, you should check it out.

No comments:

Post a Comment