They called it the “black Woodstock,” but the 1972 Wattstax concert held in Los Angeles had a lot less to do with that immortal peace-love-flowers-and-mud event than with the race riots that had torn the South Central area of the city apart seven years earlier. Sure, Wattstax had plenty of music (all of it, as the title implies, provided by Stax Records artists), and peace and love were in evidence as well. But at Woodstock it was all about loving your brothers and sisters, man, while here it was more about loving yourself and, if you were African American (as the vast majority of the audience were), about loving your race. That assertion of black identity and pride is apparent right from the start in the Rev. Jesse Jackson's “I am somebody” speech; it's there in the portions of the film that venture outside of the L.A. Coliseum (where the concert was held) to chronicle black life after the riots in the churches, shops, and streets of Watts itself; and it's there in the explosive, funny, but scathing commentaries of Richard Pryor, then at his acerbic, outrageous peak. As for the music, well, performers like Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Bar-Kays, the Staple Singers, Albert King, and Isaac Hayes (then in full Black Moses mode, replete with his “shirt” of gold chains) put on a good show. If you're solely into the music, you might prefer the audio double-CD release, but for “a soulful expression of the black experience,” as Pryor calls it, this is a powerful document indeed. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo, the "special edition" DVD includes the original "lost" ending of Hayes performing "Rolling Down a Mountain," two audio commentaries (one by Chuck D and music historian Ron Bowman; the other by Hayes, director Mel Stuart, producer Al Bell, and others), and bonus performance footage. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Graham)
Wattstax: 30th Anniversary Special Edition
(1972) 103 min. Rated: R. DVD: $24.98. Warner Home Video (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. Closed captioned. ISBN: 0-7907-9459-4. Volume 19, Issue 6
Wattstax: 30th Anniversary Special Edition
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