I have always been a fan of Fela, even though I never visited the Shrine except for a recent visit to The New Afrika Shrine as an invited guest for the premiere of Finding Fela. The paucity of my visit was because of the wild stories I had heard about the happenings at the venue but the reason for my unending admiration for the Legend is because of the freshness of his talent years after his sad demise.Never knew I would have so much fun watching the movie but I ended up laughing and crying as documentarian Alex Gibney took me through the life and times of a great man. Alex Gibney tells the story of Fela Ransome Kuti, the pioneering forefather of Afrobeat, who died in 1997 at the age of 58. While the movie may not be described as stylish, it will certainly be described as true. True to type to the man whose story was being told, Finding Fela does not seek to hide the struggles or even personal failings of Fela because indeed, these are all components of his character and every song he produced was an extension of him.Though dead, Fela’s charisma carries the movie. Gibney’s research was evident in the showcase of materials he displayed and the use of Broadway director Bill T Jones’ struggles to tell the story as a mirror for modern contextualization was a touch of genius. These sequences are mixed with talking head interviews with Fela’s children, which are especially effective when detailing government harassment and prison beatings.According to a writer, Kuti made politics to dance to, and music that made you think. The film attempts to balance a reportorial account of Kuti’s political and musical legacy with a more personal view of an extravagantly erratic personality, often seen toking on a cigar-sized spliff. To borrow Jones’ words, it tries to “access the madness.”The film ‘Finding Fela’ explores more than just ‘Fela the performer’ because family members and friends outlined their understanding of the man and the passion that drove him to achieve the heights he did. Sandra Izsadore, African-American former Black Power radical comments on Kuti’s regressive attitudes toward women and how he tried to be a husband to his 27 wives and lover to the countless lovers in his commune.I still enter when I remember certain scenes from the movie, like the one when Kuti stood up to show the camera his back when he came back from one of his numerous spells in the hands of the government of the Day.The movie is still in the cinemas and I recommend it for all fans of the legend and also for all those who want an excursion into the life of the one who said he “carried death in his pouch”.
By Darlington Abuda