Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)       5 stars

Probably the movie of last year that most needs to be seen by everyone is Ahimr “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The film takes us back to the summer of 1969, a very tumultuous time in America, when a series of concerts were presented in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park where many well known black and ethnic artists came to perform in front of thousands of spectators. The concerts were free and open to the public featuring some amazing performances that included B. B. King, The 5^th Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson and a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder. The performances were all professionally recorded and preserved by Hal Tulchin who hoped to show the recordings to the world as what he called the “Black Woodstock”. Sadly, he found little interest in the project in a country that was reeling from assassinations, riots and the Vietnam War in the past year. So the footage sat in his basement for 50 years until it was recently discovered. Questlove has put together a beautiful documentary that shows us some of these performances and puts them into the context of the events of the late sixties. Included are many eye witness accounts from some of the people who attended over 50 years ago and who describe what the concerts meant to them. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in what had to be one of the easiest choices of the awards. If you haven’t seen it look it up on Hulu.