Summer of Soul 2021
I just missed this movie when it was showing at theaters briefly this past summer. Then it went to Hulu, which I don’t have. But now in February of 2022, I was flipping through what is on Disney Plus and there it was! I think they released it in connection with Black History Month (and it will be broadcast on ABC later this month). I started watching it right away and watched it pretty much straight through.
This is a neat movie about a series of outdoor concerts held at a park in Harlem in 1969. It includes some of the biggest performances, but also interviews with attendees and performers, now 50 years older. There are a few other interviews with people who were not there to provide some good context. It provides a nostalgic look at black culture during an era of rapid change and empowerment right in the middle of the capital of black culture, Harlem. As the movie points out, “black” was still edging out “negro” at the time. The movie is a neat way to appreciate different styles of music (more gospel than I thought) and what else was going on. And it also seems to have been quite a love fest, appropriately for 1969, as the audience and performers rhapsodize about seeing all these black people in one place, just a little over year after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and riots took place in Harlem. The Black Panthers provided security (at least for one concert), but it seems like everyone got along and just had a great time. It is nice to see that portrayal since historically you are more likely to hear about Harlem burning than having a wonderful concert. It is interesting watching this movie and drawing some comparisons with another favorite movie of 2021 about a nearby neighborhood and almost the same time period, West Side Story. Good movie.
Written: 10 Feb 2022