Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) Movie Review

Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is the directorial debut of Questlove the drummer and frontman for the band the Roots. This documentary tells the story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which happened only 100 miles away from the more widely known Woodstock festival that same year. The entire festival was recorded in the hopes of getting it on television. However, the racism that persisted at that time prevented any television stations from airing the festival. Summer of Soul uses this footage to showcase the musical acts of the festival as well as highlighting how massive the crowds were for it.

There are many recognizable faces throughout the documentary. Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, and so many others were performers at the festival. The old footage shows some of their performances and the quality is divine. There are interviews with some of the musical performers who are still alive, but for the most part Summer of Soul focuses on showing the forgotten footage of the festival. Questlove does a great job of facilitating discussions on how this festival was largely overlooked, despite the prominence of the performers as well as the massive crowds that flocked to Harlem to attend. He highlights the historical significance of the festival, noting how many civil rights leaders had been murdered that year as well as the clash of the Vietnam War. Tensions were high in 1969 and a nice connection was made to the healing power of music, particularly for the black community during that year.

There was a nice little feature on Tony Lawrence, the man who organized the festival as well as telling the history of the festival and Harlem in general. But the main focus of the movie is the forgotten footage, which is used to showcase the powerhouse performers of the festival. Summer of Soul drags on a bit and probably could have cut about twenty minutes off the runtime. There are a lot of long shots of the footage, so if you’re a fan of a certain performer or song you’ll get to experience it in its entirety. However, I wish some of that had been broken up a bit with some editing. But it was still an incredibly enjoyable watch as well as being informational. If you haven’t ever heard of the Harlem Cultural Festival, you should do yourself a favor and watch this documentary. And if you have heard of it, you’ll revel in the quality of this forgotten footage and the awesome performances that have been resurrected. 

You’ll like this movie if:
1. You like music from the 1960’s
2. You want to learn about a forgotten moment in music history
3. You want to learn about the Harlem Cultural Festival