The Black Power Mixtape

Streaming: IFC Films Unlimited/Prime Video
Warnings:
Racism
Violence
Rating: Not Rated

The Black Power Mixtape is a documentary made of compiled footage shot by a group of Swedish journalists documenting the Black Power movement in the United States from 1967-1975. The archival footage is overlaid with commentary and interviews from African American artists, activists, musicians and scholars. This documentary is vital when understanding the historical impact of the Black Power movement, especially when considering the current political climate of the United States. The film is divided chronologically from 1967-1975 and it focuses on several topics ranging from Black Power, the opposition of the Vietnam war, The Black Panther Party, covert FBI operations, and the War on Drugs. The film includes people who were significant to the movement including Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and Bobby Seale (to name a few). The Black Power Mixtape also includes archival footage of Martin Luther King Jr., Louis Farrakhan, Emile de Antonio, Richard Nixon, and Ingrid Dahlberg. Some of the commentary carrying the film includes but isn’t limited to Erykah Badu, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Talib Kweli, Angela Davis, Sonia Sanchez and Abiodun Oyewole. The historical importance of this film is essential to understanding American history, and it is an interesting perspective simply because it was filmed by Swedish journalists. The archival footage as well as the editing joined with the commentary creates a masterful film that shows the audience a side of America that hasn’t been shown to a mass audience before. The Black Power Mixtape is so powerful, it was nominated for numerous awards and won the Editing Award World Cinema Documentary from the Sundance Film Festival, the Best Editing from the Gulbagge Awards, and the Best Documentary from the African American Film Critics Association.

            The first most important element to discuss about The Black Power Mixtape is the historical importance. In the United States, a lot of history isn’t properly taught, and this documentary allows an audience who might not know about this history, to see the truth for the first time. This film pushes the envelope by prominently featuring activists who were considered “dangerous” or “a threat” to the American people. The Black Power Mixtape not only discusses the concept of Black Power and what it means, it also discusses how the government has marginalized generations of people within the United States on purpose. This film makes connections that have not been seen before to American audiences and allows the audience to understand what the Black Power movement was actually all about, rather than what it was misconstrued to be. Diane Archer of Film Comment stated that The Black Power Mixtape is “a chronological musically structured collage tracing the arc of the Black Power movement from its inception during the civil rights era through its dissolution as drugs began to erode black communities in the Seventies, created with rarely seen footage culled from the archives of Swedish Television.” The two main historical events the film does a good job covering specifically is the Civil Rights Movement and the effects of the War on Drugs. These two events are framed to be highly relevant to the Black Power movement throughout the documentary.

            Another important element of the film are the interviews, the commentary that carries The Black Power Mixtape create an interesting approach to storytelling that isn’t often utilized in documentaries. Usually, the interviewee is seen throughout the film however, just the voices of the interviewees are used. This creates an effective way to focus on the content rather than who is speaking which can at times become distracting in certain approaches. One memorable part of the film features Erykah Badu singing during her commentary and the editor joins her voice with images of children in poverty who were not going to be able to eat breakfast that morning. At this point of the film, they were discussing free breakfast and lunch that the Black Panthers would provide, so it was certainly a powerful way to get that message across. Talib Kweli adds to an interesting part of the film where he discusses knowledge, and his commentary is joined with a Black elder who owns a historical bookstore. Editing choices like this adds to the points that the interviewees were trying to make, they allow the audience to understand their commentary on another level. Editors Göran Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist did a wonderful job capturing the perspectives of their interviewees through the archival footage they used.

            The archival footage throughout the film is shocking and informative. The Black Power Mixtape uses footage that was predominantly never seen by an American audience, so a lot of this imagery was lost in history. Luckily it was discovered 30 years later in a cellar of Swedish Television. Without this footage, this documentary would not exist, and the American Audience would not have seen a great deal of our country’s own history. The archival footage included is one of the only interviews of Angela Davis in jail. This thoughtful interview with Angela has become quite famous and has been used in other documentaries since then. Police Brutality is an additional thing that is highlighted in the film, the only thing that has changed about the police are their uniforms. The Black Power Mixtape makes a point to include footage of people discussing their treatment from police back then which is a devastating comparison to make when considering the issue with police brutality today. The Black Power Mixtape has a lot of elements within it but through the editing, commentary and archival footage the film makes interesting and significant points about the Black Power movement.

            The Black Power Mixtape is not necessarily a film to watch when you want to feel better about being a citizen of the United States. However, it certainly is an inspirational film that makes the audience feel encouraged to work towards change for the future. The Black Power Mixtape is informative and educational when it comes to the civil rights movement as well as the Black Power movement and it is important to continue educating people properly about this history. Through the editing, archival footage and thought-provoking commentary, this film allows the audience to understand a different perspective of American history. I highly recommend watching this documentary film when you want to learn something new about the United States.

Loving

Streaming: Netflix (With Subscription)
Warnings:
Racism
Explicit Language
Rating: PG-13

Loving is a heartfelt story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple who was arrested for interracial marriage in the 1960s in Virginia, this sparked a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court’s historic 1967 decision. Ruth Negga plays Mildred and Joel Edgerton plays Richard; critics were near unanimous in praise for Negga’s portrayal of Mildred Loving. This biography is an important portrayal of history because its exposes the hardships that the Lovings had to deal with on a daily basis just for being in an interracial marriage. Loving is an earnest film that shows how far our society has come in regard to interracial relationships, however it also brings attention to how much we still need to change for progress. Along with the historical importance, the cinematography is beautiful and attentive. The costume design is also well executed, there was significant research that went into recreating the fashion during that time. Loving received numerous awards and nominations, it received two nominations at the 74th Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor for Edgerton, and Best Actress for Negga. Loving has been named one of the best films of 2016 by various critics.

Mildred and Richard Loving originally did not set out to spark the civil liberty battle that began in result of their marriage, but as they were fighting for their own rights, they realized this legal battle will help other interracial relationships. Producer Peter Saraf made a statement in a Q&A discussion with an audience, he described the film’s authenticity as “true to life.” Richard Loving was as stoic as portrayed by Edgerton in the film and Mildred really did write to Robert Kennedy, her letter is still in the Kennedy collection and the Lovings’ lawyer relayed Richard’s words to the Supreme Court that he loves his wife. Even the jail in the film is the same jail the couple stayed in when they were arrested, the front shot of the courthouse was also the same courthouse. To ensure accuracy, the Lovings’ surviving child Peggy Loving was a consultant for the production. When Peggy visited the set, she was shocked by how accurately the actors had channeled her parents in character and in costume. There are some details that were changed, with the invention of some characters and scenes but the creators of the film sought to stay true to the Lovings’ story as much as possible.
            Loving was shot on 35 mm film by cinematographer Adam Stone, known for Wild Wild Country, Take Shelter, and Mud. The director, Jeff Nichols wanted to make sure the audience felt how beautiful Caroline Country, Virginia was but at the same time didn’t want the film to feel “affected or sweetened.” Stone and Nichols wanted to use the camera to highlight the performances of the actors because that was what was going to effectively construct the story they were going for. Stone in particular wanted to use a moving camera shot for certain scenes but didn’t want to use a Steadicam, he explains that “if an actor’s moving on camera, we wanted to be straight on or [slightly] off axis. We used a dolly with a boom and a hothead for more stability.” This allowed the production team to capture the characters in a beautiful way that allowed their acting to shine.

The costume design is also something that is important to note for this film. Costume designer Erin Benach worked with Nichols previously on Midnight Special and she approached Loving with a great deal of attentive research. Benach states that she had a large amount of historical imagery to study along with rich material in order to best understand what people specifically in that location were wearing at that time. Benach noted that it was difficult to portray the fashion authentically or in a naturalistic way. However, she strived for the audience to notice the costume changes as they happened. It was especially difficult to portray Mildred while she was going through different stages of pregnancy, making sure she was at the correct stage took time to ensure everything was accurate. The Black and white check dress with a jacket is a costume that is noteworthy because Benach recreated that dress by using a past photograph of Mildred. Attention to details like this helped this film receive the accolades it won.

Loving is a stark reminder of the civil liberties the Lovings fought for while exposing how much still needs to change. This genuine retelling of their love story is heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Through focusing on the historical importance and using the cinematography and costume design to uplift their story, this film deserved the high praise it received from critics.  Stories like this are important to learn and understand because they are significant parts of the United States history. I highly recommend this film if you are interested in viewing historically accurate, entertaining cinema.