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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

MOVIE REVIEW What Happened Miss Simone?
 The High Priestess Rises For A New Generation

Nina Simone, the subject of the excellent documentary "What Happened, Miss Simone?", directed by Liz Garbus.  Archival photo
       
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Wednesday, July 29, 2015

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” is a riveting, electrifying experience.  Liz Garbus directs this probing, superbly-researched documentary about one of America’s most misunderstood and under-appreciated musicians.  Nina Simone was The Goddess Of Soul (or more commonly known as “The High Priestess Of Soul”) and a versatile talent.  Self-taught, self-determined and a dedicated classical and jazz piano player early on, Ms. Simone later sang and spoke truth to power and to her predominantly white audiences, and her social activism informed much of her music in the 1960s and early 70s. 

Nina Simone embodied and oozed unmistakable Blackness, womanhood, poetry, intelligence, political and activist shrewdness, beauty, sensuality and sex appeal.  “What Happened, Miss Simone?” pulses with all of these assets.

Ms. Garbus chronicles the life of the singer-songwriter virtuoso from start to finish, at Ms. Simone’s high points and low ones, in astonishing and deeply intimate detail.  Ms. Simone’s battles with depression and the domestic violence wrought upon by her loving but vicious husband and manager, and the complexities surrounding her own desire for violence and insatiable thirst for sex, and her own abusive behaviors. 

The documentary's name comes from the title of an essay by Maya Angelou, a friend of the musician’s who publicly wondered where Ms. Simone disappeared to in the early 1970s.  (The answer: her departure overseas took priority over her music.)

Lisa Simone Kelly, the late musician’s only child, anchors the documentary with compelling narratives about her mother and their turbulent relationship.  While Ms. Simone’s family upbringing isn’t given especially great attention, Ms. Garbus provides a full view of Ms. Simone’s desire to succeed in spite of a fierce racist backlash and hostility.  The film is as much a testament to how Nina Simone dealt with being Black in a racist society and its violent climate as anything else.  It's also a tribute to Ms. Simone's independence.

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” is flavored with the legend’s music.  “Mississippi Goddam” was an indictment of the institutional racism that literally aided and abetted Ms. Simone’s death of a broken heart. “To Be Young, Gifted And Black” was Ms. Simone’s reaffirmation for a Black population trapped in a racist white American society — ironically the vast majority of that population didn’t constitute Ms. Simone’s live audiences.  Her haunting rendition of “Strange Fruit” represented the historic and violent reality afflicted upon the Black collective in America and “Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)” lamented the assassination of a great American fighter for justice.  “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” was aspirational in the wake of continuing institutionalized racial oppression of Blacks in America and the harrowing violence against Blacks in a carnage-filled 1960s.

At times “What Happened, Miss Simone?” is too personal and intimate but the journey of Nina Simone’s life is true to her uncompromising spirit and refreshing honesty.  Watching the film you feel the soul of Nina Simone beating in your own heart and the palm of your hand.  Ms. Garbus’s documentary is resplendently alive — alive with beauty, awareness and an acute sense of a life lived, struggled and endured.  It makes for rich, brilliant and sometimes uncomfortable viewing that resonates with unshakable truth. 

Throughout, Nina Simone is exposed, bare, vulnerable, unfiltered and undiluted in her own words.  Ms. Garbus reintroduces Nina Simone for a new generation of youth, a generation that would be further bolstered by her fervent activist voice given recent events the Black Lives Matter movement calls attention to.  We are reminded why Nina Simone was so necessary - and why America today needs to hear her resolute voice once again, in all its glory.  This excellent film is about the soul of a life, the soul of an artist in touch with times and with herself amidst turbulence.

The archival footage in “What Happened, Miss Simone?” is absolutely priceless.  Through it we see that Nina Simone was a showstopper in more ways than one.  She literally stops a show to single out and admonish a rude, entitled patron who won’t sit down.  That’s the pure authenticity of heart and precision Ms. Simone possessed.  Ms. Garbus, with the blessing of the musician’s estate, presents a confident, unquenchable heroine for justice.  We see Ms. Simone’s struggles, setbacks, successes and redemption, in moving and affectionate moments in the latter stages of her career. 

What was clear to me in the film is Nina Simone was the embodiment of her African ancestors and their spirit projected through her and her music.  I disagree that Nina Simone (as someone in the documentary asserts) was born in the wrong time.  The racist society that engulfed and poisoned her with its violence and hate was the problem (and remains so.)  And Ms. Simone’s reaction to that society was absolutely sane.

I thought I knew everything there was to know about Nina Simone.  I’m one of her biggest fans.  I foolishly believed I’d cornered the market on knowledge of her, her music, her legacy.  After watching “What Happened, Miss Simone?” I am happy to say that I didn’t know the half of her story.  This fine documentary is an eye-opener for any Nina Simone fan and uninitiated or curious bystander.  (I am dismayed to report that there are some people today in their 50s and 60s who do not know who Nina Simone was.)

Thankfully Liz Garbus knows her subject inside and out.  She does justice to Nina Simone and puts her into proper perspective and a restorative glare, one America has often chosen to shun.  Out of desperation and emergency Ms. Simone retreated to the African continent and later France, where she found the love and acceptance many white Americans and American society overall wouldn’t bestow upon her.  It was only years later, and years after her death, that much of America has sung Ms. Simone's praises.

I was absorbed, fascinated and utterly thrilled by “What Happened, Miss Simone?”  I wanted more.  When a documentary leaves you wanting you more and wishing for more it has done its job, and done it very, very well.

Note: This film was in limited theatrical release in June, is currently playing at the IFC Center in New York City and is now available on Netflix.

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” is not rated by the Motion Picture Association Of America but contains graphic descriptions of domestic violence and abuse.  The film's running time is one hour and 42 minutes.
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