Offers a vivid glimpse of a fascinating moment in musical history, racial politics and global pop culture.
Comment
07/10/09
Soul Power (2009)
84
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:69
Fresh:58
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Featuring some incredible performances from many 70s soul legends, Soul Power is an exhilarating snap-shot of a bygone era.
Theatrical Release:Jul 10, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $23,893
Synopsis: Though the eyes of the world were on "The Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974, their ears should have been on Zaire '74, the mammoth music festival that took place in the shadow of the battle between... [More]
Starring: James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz
Director: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
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Reviews for Soul Power
Top CriticSome fascinating behind-the-scenes footage and some astonishing performances.
07/10/09
Flavourful behind the scenes footage mingles with infectious concert performances to make this a very welcome record of a unique piece of music history.
07/10/09
Soul Power turns out to be an unusually resonant time capsule, one that weaves together theatrics, musicianship, cosmopolitanism and sharp political critique in a vibrant look-back that's at once celebratory and wistful.
08/14/09
Unseen for 35 years, its spectacle is undimmed, and you can pick many highlights.
07/10/09
Passionate fans of the music will relish these archived images while regular moviegoers will be entertained, but not moved by what they see.
07/13/09
documents the bass line running under the absurdly politicized, hyper-kinetic boxing match that found Muhammed Ali facing off against then-titan George Forman
07/09/09
In addition to the expected shots of Ali and Don King in all their megalomania, the intimate portraits of James Brown, Bill Withers, and B.B. King in his triumphant homecoming are as powerful as their performances.
07/16/09
Soul Power is worth seeing -- and hearing -- for the evocation of an era and above all, for the exuberant and infectious performances.
07/09/09
"Soul Power" is an imperfect social document of a time when anything seemed possible. Here's proof that Michael Jackson never had a thing on James Brown.
07/01/09
It packs the emotional and historical power of a heady 'family gathering' celebration of African and, to use the term then in fashion, Afro-American pride.
07/30/09
While Soul Power is bound to be compared to the Oscar-winning Ali/Foreman documentary When We Were Kings, it never scales the same heights.
07/10/09
The concert footage is excellent, with Brown in decent form, even if in truth he was already a decade past his creative peak. Good music movie, thin documentary.
07/10/09
This is musical history that deserves to be placed alongside the best of its era.
07/10/09
Seems destined to join classic concert films like Woodstock and Gimme Shelter in the musical archives for its ability to capture the feel of the times and really make you feel like you were there.
07/07/09
Director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte does a terrific job re-creating a landmark moment, with behind-the-scenes footage complementing triumphant performances.
07/10/09
Ali's bravado-soaked words, breezily tossed off after he disrupts a Don King press conference, also serve as an artist's manifesto for the film's musical acts: Celia Cruz, the Spinners, Fania All-Stars, Bill Withers, B.B. King, Miriam Makeba, and others.
07/08/09
Top CriticThe well-preserved (or well-restored) footage, and the simple joy of the artists, easily put any misgivings in the shade.
07/09/09
A lively and entertaining documentary about a three-day concert of R & B music held in 1974 in Zaire, Africa.
07/09/09
A dazzling chronicle of the African American music expo that was meant to accompany the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight title bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo).
07/24/09
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May 03, 2009:
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