You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn’t know about the Woodstock Festival, which made it’s historical impact during the summer of 1969. Yet another festival took place during that same summer that had seemingly been forgotten by the masses, yet carried just as much historical impact and significance as Woodstock.
This was the Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place at Mount Morris Park on various dates that summer, bringing in some legendary acts such as Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King and Sly and the Family Stone.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the famed drummer of The Roots knows this history as well as anyone and put it to good use by making his directorial debut with Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), his documentary of this unforgettable cultural event.
This amazing footage of so many great performances was filmed by producer Hal Tulchin and somehow was left unreleased just sitting around until Questlove decided to put it to good use. Along with the performances, there are interviews with participants who explain the historical significance of the festival, the difficulties of the logistics of putting it on, and what these performers meant to the audience, largely of all African Americans, getting to take in their culture in such a way that sadly was unprecedented at the time.
The fact that this footage has never been seen before is astonishing and rather disappointing considering its historical significance, but we get to see it delivered gift-wrapped in a loving manner from Questlove who really lets the music and footage do all the heavy-liftting for him.
That’s not to say that Quest doesn’t put his own loving stamp on it and get some insightful quotes from the many notable figures that are interviewed, or the historical context that he integrates alongside all of the footage. Such as the idea that the festival was put on to “keep the residents of Harlem from setting fires that summer.”
As amazing as the footage is and how insightful it is at times, the film feels split between part concert film and part documentary, and something in-between. With a two-hour run-time, the film isn’t shy on the concert footage, which is welcome. But as a narrative piece of documentary filmmaking, there was something missing structurally to deliver on the level that the footage ultimately deserved. The cuts between performances and the interviews didn’t always do either justice, resulting in neither taking the fully formed potential as promised.
Yet the footage truly is astonishing and provides a glimpse into history that maddeningly so many of us had no clue about. If nothing else, that alone is a triumph worth celebrating, as is Questlove as a talent not just behind the kit, but behind the lens as well.
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