No matter which way you come at Summer of Soul (culturally, politically, historically, philosophically, etc.) there can be no denying the totality of its coolness. This should come as no surprise considering its director, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (better known as Questlove), has for many years served as an ambassador for the importance of music and how it can come to define movements and the marginalized. Now, Thompson has taken that ambassadorship and translated it into an electrifying documentary about the most important music festival you’ve never heard of: the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival – otherwise known as Black Woodstock.
During the summer of 1969, Harlem’s Mount Morris Park saw some 300,000 people attend a series of free concerts meant to celebrate Black music and Black pride. The concerts were a huge success, with acts like Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and many, many more contributing. When the New York Police Department refused to provide security, the Black Panther Party stepped in – fostering a sense of community and solidarity that put an exclamation point on the Civil Rights and Black Pride movements that were boiling over in every major city in the U.S. at that time.
Where the other Woodstock that took place that same summer (a mere 100 miles to the north) gained national attention and its own documentary less than a year after it happened, the Harlem Cultural Festival was relegated to the memories of those who were there, even though the entire event had been meticulously filmed. The footage from the concert series went unseen for nearly 50 years, reportedly just sitting in a basement somewhere. Now, recently re-discovered and archived, Thompson uses it, along with period news footage and an assortment of interviews, to form the backbone, heartbeat, and lifeblood of his film.
The footage captured during that summer in 1969 is a spectacular sight to behold, but there’s more to Summer of Soul than just the amazing performances. Holding the film together is Thompson’s deft editorial eye, which he uses to contrast and compare the words and actions of politicians, newscasters, and activists to the broader cultural realities of life as a Black person at that time – and by extension, modern times as well. It isn’t often one points out how well-edited a documentary is (especially when the explicit highlight is the music and performers), but Thompson’s pinpoint accuracy paints a beautiful and affecting picture of both the vibrancy of Black, African, Afro-Caribbean, and Puerto Rican cultures in the late-’60s, and the turmoil forced upon them by the Vietnam War, racist cops, and white supremacy. The Harlem Cultural Festival was a marvelous act of defiance, and Summer of Soul is brilliant at bringing that defiance to life.
One last thing. I can’t in good conscience end this without mentioning that the response Redd Foxx gives to news correspondents about the moon landing (another big event that happened that summer) very nearly steals the entire show. It might be the most succinct and politically barbed bit of satirical observation you hear all summer.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.