 Weeks before the fight, the emotional meetings between the American artists and their African hosts were masterfully documented by skilled cameramen, filming street life in Kinshasa, Zaire. While on a stroll, a horn player in perfect Pied-Piper fashion lures a few boys into clapping along.
On October, 30, 1974 the heavy-weight championship fight went down, detailed in When We Were Kings (1996) and holds its own cinematic glory as the best sports documentary in motion picture history. The champion George Foreman, a power-hitter and favored to win pounded Muhammad Ali who resiliently and brilliantly used his “rope-a-dope” technique to tire his opponent into crippling exhaustion before knocking out the champ in the 8th round, stunning the boxing world and regaining the the Heavyweight Championship title. Kings focused on the Ali-Foreman fight and featured electrifying footage of James Brown, but only a tantalizingly glimpse, as the concert played a mere supporting role in the run up to the fight.
Both the festival and the film financed by a Liberian investment group had become mired in legal disputes until film rights were settled, completion of Kings coming nearly 12 years later and won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary. Jeffrey Levy-Hinte was the young editor doing grunt work on this doc during 1995 when the seed for another film took root.
Ever since, he became fixated on the idea of the Zaire '74 concert, gathering dust in a New Jersey warehouse, when the concert footage came under Levy-Hinte’s eagle-eyed scrutiny when he pulled together an impressive assembly that he would later call Soul Power.
From the extensive “outtakes” trimmed from the earlier effort, shot by the world's top documentary cinematographers of the day—Albert Maysles, Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating and Roderick Young—there were hundreds of hours of film to work with. And it took Levy-Hinte two and a half years to realize his vision. None of this has ever been seen. Some of it with Muhammad Ali eating breakfast and horsing around is captivating; and Sister Sledge teaching their newfound African friends how to bump. So it’s a time capsule but with no contemporary interviews or reflections, nothing to interrupts the cinéma-verité. But in all this "raw material" was a film, and Levy-Hinte and his team pulled together a concise, compelling package.
What the director’s vision didn’t allow was the stark diversity of opinions about the film…some with wide-eyed bewilderment unleash as harsh criticism, taking exception to Muhammad Ali's pre-flight candor, moments when emotionally up front he goes from nonsensical rants into one-liners with pinpoint accuracy; eloquent and funny in blending anger and joy that disarms any debate about his premise: why white men will never consider a black man to be a brother. Far less bombastic and far more sobering with straight talk, James Brown preaches his caveat: "Cannot get liberated broke."
These embolden black Americans visited the Continent for the first time with somewhat naïve notions about exploring their African roots; still it’s empowering, the artistry and passion of black idealism. The emotional texture of Soul Power is a rare moment, where Black Power fails to transcend the 1960’s, yet its spirit is insightfully exulted by Ali and the Godfather of Soul “returning home” to African—for the very first time—where the local politics of violence and corruption is ignored. The black American athletes and musicians do the talking with down-to-earth cliché chatter, connecting with Africans they meet along the way who listen to these world famous men, black role models attempting to turn their own anger and ambition into constructive self-awareness.
High praise did come to Levy-Hinte for this film he assembled, shot with state-of-the-art equipment that produced excellent sound quality in recording the concert. And the effort paid off, as he received encouragement that reinforced confidence in the project. No matter the politics as presented, it’s impossible not to bob and weave while smiling at Brown and the others as they do their best work.
According to the director, after listening to the pros and cons of those who had seen a rough cut, he made a much better film as a result. Containing 34 year old footage shot in 16mm, and without the money to put toward a 35mm print, the film reportedly looks “great” on high-definition, although film stock (unlike HD) would have given the documentary that slightly more organic feel and authentic look.
A bigger concern for the producer-director is the vagaries of motion picture distribution (documentary films are grossly restricted theatrically) and Levy-Hinte knew there was very a good chance a real audience may never have the opportunity to see his film.
Soul Power premiered this fall at the Toronto International Film Festival without that industry-saturation, when the whole nature of the audience is distorted; and where the North American rights have been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The international rights sold quickly.
Because on-stage performances were edited down so the audience can step off stage to dwell on those candid moments behind the scenes (including that day-long flight to Zaire) visiting those tiny villages, the film has a brisk 93-minute running time. We can only hope the future DVD release contains additional concert footage.
“Overall Soul Power is a terrific document of Zaire 74 using just the footage from the event,” reported Bob Turnbull, after viewing the film. “No present day interviews reflecting on the past. Just the temper of the times and how it was expressed in music.”
 The election of Barack Obama no doubt illustrates how far our nation and the world has come in 34 years on the issue of race in America, which makes this “concert movie” no less an affectionate tribute as well as an historical record—and all the more the reason to see it.
But will it make your “liver quiver” and your “bladder splatter”? If it does…it’s long-overdue.
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