Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
HULU/SEARCHLIGHTOne of the joys of modern cinemas is the restoration and rediscovery of long lost films. Often lost out of neglect or because of some force making it so, the rediscovery of lost films and footage has helped preserve not just the history of cinema but the history of events many may not know occurred. In Summer of Soul (…or, When the revolution couldn’t be televised), the debut documentary from Questlove, the once unknown Harlem Cultural Festival, is rediscovered and re-examined by those who were there with the help of recently unearthed footage of the whole event.
The Harlem Cultural Festival took place across the summer of nineteen sixty-nine in Harlem's Mount Morris Park. The festival organizer, Tony Lawrence, was able to pull off the summer-long series with help from the then-mayor of New York City and various marketing deals. The concerts were broken up by musical styles but were noted for the eclectic lineups they would bring together, featuring the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and The Family Stone, and Gladys Knight and The Pips. The event ended up bringing out nearly three hundred thousand people and were completely free.
Much of the performance footage is broken up by typical documentary talking head segments, though these are less cumbersome than most documentaries. With a mix of the performers and people who attended, the footage is given a new context as they all reminisce over their shared feelings of being there, with some of the most poignant of these segments being the members of The 5th Dimension discussing how the group was viewed at the time and why they felt the need to be apart of the festival.
The talking head segments also give a chance for the documentary to look at how the societal issues of the sixties fed the atmosphere surrounding the festival. Much of the turbulence of the decade had culminated in a newfound identity and sense of urgency for black people in the US, notably dropping the negro descriptor in place of simply being called black. These bits are sprinkled throughout the documentary, never spending too much time on them and consistently trying to tie everything back to the music and the festival.
Another section looks at the Hispanic acts in the festival and the Hispanic culture in Harlem. It’s a short section (one including a Lin Manuel Miranda cameo), but one that shows that despite the festival being heavily marketed as a black event, the multiculturalism of Harlem wasn’t lost in the mix.
The restored footage of the performances is the main attraction of the documentary, and the footage never disappoints. Restored after sitting in a basement for fifty years, the footage was finished and attempted to be sold, but with the success of the Woodstock festival and concert film, many felt a “Black Woodstock” wouldn’t sell as well. The performances and the footage of the crowds are exhilarating, giving full display to the joy of those involved. The footage, along with films like William Greeves Nationtime, is a part of a long line of works by black creatives or about black people that have been shelved or nearing the possibility of being lost to time that was restored and released to a world clamouring to know the history they’re presenting.
Questlove's Summer of Love (…or, When the revolution couldn’t be televised) offers some astounding footage of a lost music festival and the joy of people rediscovering it but ultimately becomes lost trying to focus on so many different aspects.
