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Reviews Counted:69
Fresh:58
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Featuring some incredible performances from many 70s soul legends, Soul Power is an exhilarating snap-shot of a bygone era.
Theatrical Release:Jul 10, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $23,893
Synopsis: Though the eyes of the world were on "The Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974, their ears should have been on Zaire '74, the mammoth music festival that took place in the shadow of the battle between... [More]
Starring: James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz
Director: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
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B.B. King. Bill Withers. Miriam Makeba. Celia Cruz. And James Brown, earning every inch of the title, "Godfather of Soul," who all by himself probably deforested a few acres around Kinshasa with the volcanic blast of his set.
Does its part to widen this historic concert's potential audience base.
Watching Soul Power is like flipping through Polaroids of that era. The color is a little washed out and everyone looks amazingly young.
It's hard not to wish that maybe there was a little less of Muhammad Ali promoting himself and a little more of the concert.
...if you are a fan of any of the musicians ... or maybe I should say if you're completely unfamiliar with any of the musicians mentioned - then Soul Power is well worth seeing. Or at least hearing.
For a documentary about a music festival, Soul Power doesn't include nearly enough music.
The movie is surprisingly dry and flavorless. It certainly doesn't help that filmmaker Jeffrey Levy-Hinte put this collection of footage together without any narration and with a bare minimum of narrative captions.
The performances are fine, but this feels like a companion piece to 'When We Were Kings' rather than a work that can stand on its own...
Soul Power leaves you wanting more, and not in a good way.
It's best seen as a breezy entertainment and a reminder of how potent some of these performers -- many of whom are dead -- were in their primes.
Soul Power turns out to be an unusually resonant time capsule, one that weaves together theatrics, musicianship, cosmopolitanism and sharp political critique in a vibrant look-back that's at once celebratory and wistful.
Top CriticIt's impossible not to be moved.
Ultimately it's the music that makes this film a cause for celebration -- especially the chance to see 'Soul Brother #1' James Brown and his blistering band perform at their absolute prime.
It packs the emotional and historical power of a heady 'family gathering' celebration of African and, to use the term then in fashion, Afro-American pride.
Top CriticSoul Power is the indispensable companion film to Leon Gast's thrilling 1996 documentary When We Were Kings.
A footnote to a masterpiece.
Watching the Godfather of Soul on the big outdoor stage, you think back to his appearance in The T.A.M.I. Show a decade earlier. And then you think: I feel good.
Top CriticThe movie is crisp and quick and looks as if it were shot yesterday, but for all that, Soul Power is ultimately disappointing.
A dazzling chronicle of the African American music expo that was meant to accompany the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight title bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo).
Top CriticA non-stop head-bobbing knee-bouncer.
Top Critic
July 09, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Bruno is Certified Fresh
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May 09, 2009:
Images of James Brown, Celia Cruz, B.B. King, Don King, Miriam Makeba from this star studded event 
More...
May 03, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
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