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Soul Power
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Directed by: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 10, 2009
DVD: January 26, 2010
Running Time: 93 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Language(s): English | French
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief strong language
Starring Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Celia Cruz, B.B. King, Don King, and Miriam Makeba
In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The dream-child of Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award-winning documentary When We Were Kings. (Sony Classics)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Soul Power, as aptly and succinctly titled a movie as I have ever seen, takes you to a place where the discipline that produces great popular art is indistinguishable from the ecstasy that art creates.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Explodes in a burst of energy, musical chops and an eerie political prescience that makes it feel like something beamed from some past-is-future time warp.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
Soul Power is both a funk-tastic time capsule and a timeless celebration of the human spirit.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
James Brown, B.B. King, and a dazzling array of top African, Afro-Cuban, and African-American talent finally gets its own solo spotlight in Soul Power.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Levy-Hinte has said that a great deal more concert footage exists. I can't wait for the expanded version DVD.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Period pieces can be marvelous or musty, depending on the period, as well as the piece. Soul Power is marvelous.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Anyone awed by 1996's "When We Were Kings" - and really, that should be anyone who's seen it - will consider this vivid companion piece essential viewing.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
What's infectious in Soul Power is the almost shocking optimism of its America-meets-Africa '70s world-beat vibe.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The idea is to share with us that this show happened. But gluttons for these artists and for music festivals in general might wonder, as I have, whether there's any way the filmmakers might share more of the remaining 123 1/2 hours.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) James Adams
Pretty much a non-stop head-bobbing knee-bouncer.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's best seen as a breezy entertainment and a reminder of how potent some of these performers -- many of whom are dead -- were in their primes.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ernest Hardy
Takes too long to get to the meat of its matter, but captivates once it does.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Thomas Fawcett
Artfully stitched together sans narration, Soul Power stands alongside "Wattstax" as a critical concert film of the Black Power era.
Read Full Review >NPR Mark Jenkins
Delightfully, Kinshasa's streets are alive with music, and snippets of sidewalk performances are integrated into the movie. The musicians are unidentified, alas, but then after 35 years, the filmmakers probably don't know who they are.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The concert footage is mesmerizing; the planning leading up to the show is pedestrian.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
For a documentary about a music festival, Soul Power doesn't include nearly enough music.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Neil Young
While there's an awful lot to like about this infectious celebration of a remarkable event featuring some superb, larger-than-life performers at the top of their game, the enterprise comes across as a bit of a missed opportunity.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
As the record of a cultural event, Soul Power is a hit-and-miss affair.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
