I confess – to someone who would gladly have spent two days in a church just listening to Chuck Rainey play bass, the film AMAZING GRACE, is really preaching to the converted here. I’m all smiles already during the title sequence. But it’s only about ten minutes into the film, that I begin to realize that this isn’t going to be an ordinary musical experience – this is on a much deeper level than anything I have ever experienced before.
The documentary film was shot over two days in January 1972, during the recording of the music for the live album Amazing Grace. By this time, Aretha Franklin was a huge cross-over star with 11 gold albums under her belt. But instead of making another soul-pop album, she wanted to reach back into her childhood roots to the gospel music which was the foundation of her musical career. The resulting double album was released five months later and would become the biggest selling gospel album of all time, but it has taken nearly half a century for this movie to finally get a release.
Aretha Franklin could have recorded the album in any major music studio in the country, but she wanted the authenticity of a traditional baptist church. She chose the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, complete with its musical director Reverend James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir led by conductor Reverend Alexander Hamilton.
Spirits are soaring in anticipation inside the full congregation as the choir, dressed in black with sparkling silver vests, rhythmically walks in through the aisles while singing. They are followed by an unusually subdued Ms. Franklin, who has left the glam regalia she was famous for at home, and is instead wearing a (for her) discreet white and green dress. She sits down at the piano and softly introduces her first song, a version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Wholly Holy’, and that’s just about all the talking she does in the film – the rest is singing. And what singing that is!
Aretha Franklin sings with such depth and devotion that not only is the whole choir and the entire congregation up on their toes – at one point the Rev. Mr. Cleveland, is so moved that he collapses on a chair and bursts out sobbing.
The film is thankfully devoid of interviews and talking heads. Other than short introductions of songs, the only person talking in the film is Aretha’s father, Reverend CL Franklin, who is invited to give a short heartfelt speech from the pulpit. When the music resumes, in a particularly beautiful moment, Reverend Franklin wipes his daughter’s sweaty forehead, as she is completely immersed in singing and playing the piano.
At the time this movie was made, America was going through hard times in the wake of the events of the civil rights movement of the sixties, including the murders of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. While certain developments had been made in terms of multi-racial schools and work places, this was also a time during which the CIA were deliberately trying to break apart any organized black movements, such as the Black Panther Party. This still segregated society is unintentionally but clearly recognized even in this film, as all the technical sound and film crew are white men, whereas the choir and the congregation are all black – except for Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones, who can be seen in the back rows, looking like they can’t believe their luck for being present at this historical moment.
Once Aretha starts to sing – nothing else matters!
The reason why it has taken so long to finish the film is because no arrangements were made by the film’s director, Sydney Pollack, to make sure that sound and film (which were recorded separately) would be able to be synced in editing. Quite an astonishing oversight for a professional Oscar-nominated film director. Serious efforts were made afterwards to try to sync up the footage, including re-hiring the conductor, Reverend Hamilton to try to lip-read the film, but shortly after the release of the album, the film project was shelved.
But perhaps it is the fact that the camera crew was so loose and undisciplined that allowed for the musical performances to reach such heights – there was clearly nobody bothering anyone with clapper boards and retakes. The lighting is very rudimentary and un-styled and crew members don’t even seem to bother to stay out of the shots of other cameras. All of this adds to the film’s stark realism – and to be honest, once Aretha starts to sing – nothing else matters.
AMAZING GRACE is out now at a cinema near you.
words ERIK CHARLES
photos & video NONSTOP ENTERTAINMENT
