‘Summer time of Soul’ and ‘The One and Solely Dick Gregory’ assessment: Two documentary debuts supply home windows into the civil-rights period

In an impressive curatorial performance, musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson directed the song “Summer of Soul (… Or If The Revolution Couldn’t Be Televised),” which focuses on a musical program that tells the story Lost: A six-week Harlem concert series that featured a dizzying array of acts and drew around 50,000 people each week.

The event, however, unfolded in the shadow of Woodstock, and footage dormant for half a century, so the raw performances alone are enough to make Summer of Soul – which premieres in both theaters and Hulu – into something feels like a real event.

Thompson really lets the music play to pay tribute to the artists, and complements that with interviews with people who attended the festival to introduce them to a time of cultural awakening in their youth. It’s been an emotional experience for many, including singer Marilyn McCoo, who bursts into tears while performing on The 5th Dimension.

There are many more highlights – something for every musical taste indeed – with recordings by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Sly & the Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson and BB King.

Activist Al Sharpton calls 1969 a “decisive year”, and the images of the festival and its “party atmosphere” underscore the development of culture from fashion to language, as the journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault as New York Times reporter urged her editors from Change “Negro” to “Black”.

“Summer of Soul” contextualizes the music by illustrating the anti-war and racial riots and how this distinctively African American venture was largely ignored while Woodstock made headlines 160 miles away (and produced a memorable documentary).

In one impressive sequence, Thompson mixes in coverage of the moon landing while a CBS reporter goes to the festival to interview people on the street. To his obvious surprise, he finds that some participants are more concerned about injustice on earth than about space exploration. The film comes amid a wave of musical nostalgia in the content-hungry realm of streaming, including the recently released “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything”. , “Hulu’s upcoming documentaries on Paul McCartney and Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated Beatles project for Disney +.

A lot of these documentaries feel complementary, but who has time for them all? Whether on a large or small screen, Summer of Soul deserves a spot at the top of this menu.

“Dick Gregory,” meanwhile, focuses on a unique personality that casts a huge shadow on both comedy and the civil rights movement.

Gregory went on to become one of America’s hottest comedians with his snappy manner of social commentary, smoking his way through the sets (using cigarettes to underline his jokes), and quickly rising out of poverty to a $ 5,000-a-night headliner.

Gregory’s friendship with civil rights activist Medgar Evers, however, prompted him to become increasingly involved in the fight for equality and to travel a lot to the deep south. In essence, he put his career on the table after Evers’ murder outside of his Mississippi home, which devastated him and threw himself into the business.

Director Andre Gaines speaks to a range of voices ranging from Gregory’s family and contemporary Harry Belafonte to Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and other comics that take his influence into account. “He set the bar very high for the people who came after him,” says Chappelle, while W. Kamau Bell – the host of CNN’s “United Shades of America” ​​- describes him as a “pioneer of political comedy.” .

Gregory went on a series of hunger strikes – refused to eat solid foods and lost dangerous amounts of weight – and eventually turned this into a weight loss and health company targeting the poor.

In fact, his later years are especially colorful as Gregory – who died in 2017 – found his way back to the standup stage after years of using those skills in other venues like the college lecture circuit.

“As soon as a man laughs with you,” says Gregory, “it is hard for him to laugh at you.”

“The One and Only Dick Gregory” highlights Gregory’s special ability to make people laugh, and more importantly, the sacrifices he made in pursuing greater goals than the roar of a crowd and that nightly paycheck.

“Summer of Soul (… Or if the Revolution wasn’t televised)” premieres in theaters and on Hulu on July 2nd.

“The One and Only Dick Gregory” premieres on July 4th at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.