How It Feels to Be free (2021)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How It Feels to Be Free is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2021.

 

It is an episode of the long-running program American Masters.

 

The purpose of this film is to present six African American women who were trailblazers in the field of entertainment (singers, musicians, and actors).

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Director: Yoruba Richen

** Executive producer: Alicia Keys

** Narrator: Josh Hamilton

** Based on the book How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement by Ruth Feldstein (2013)

** Language: English

** Run time: 115 minutes

 

Here are the names of the six women whose lives and careers are presented in this film:

 

** Lena Horne (1917-2010)

** Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010)

** Nina Simone (1933-2003)

** Diahann Carroll (1935-2021)

** Cicely Tyson (1924-2021)

** Pam Grier (born 1949)

 

Archive footage featuring these six women is used extensively in this film. The old clips can be divided into two categories.

 

The first category shows them when they are active performing.

 

The second category shows them when they are doing an interview; when they are talking about their experiences in the past and their hopes and dreams for the future.

 

Several persons are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants (in alphabetical order):

 

** Halle Berry – actress

** Gail Lumet Buckley – daughter of Lena Horne

** Ruth Feldstein – author of the book on which the film is based

** Meagan Good - actress

** Alicia Keys – singer, songwriter

** LaTanya Richardson Jackson - actress

** Samuel L. Jackson - actor

** Yolanda Ross - actress

** Radheyan Simonpillai – culture writer, film critic

** Jacqueline Stewart

** Lena Waithe - actress

 

The title of the book and the film is inspired by the song I Wish I Knew How It Feels to Be Free written by Billy Taylor in 1963 and recorded by the composer in the same year.

 

In 1967, it was recorded by Nina Simone who made it a famous song. Since then, it has been recorded by several other artists.

 

Many African American women tried to make a career in entertainment but it was not easy for them.

 

In the old days, Hollywood studios placed actors in four different categories:

 

# 1. White men

# 2. White women

# 3. Persons of color (male)

# 4. Persons of color (female)

 

The chart with four categories was a ranking list in which the first two categories were the best, while the last two categories were the worst.

 

All actors who came to Hollywood were asking themselves some basic questions:

 

** How many job-offers will I get?

** How much money will I make?

** How long will my career be?

** What kind of role will they invite me to play? What kind of person will they ask me to portray?

 

The answer to these questions depended on your position on the chart with the four categories. 

 

Hollywood offered numerous benefits and opportunities to actors. But the number of benefits and opportunities depended on your position on the chart with the four categories.

 

Members of the first category (some white men) would get more job-offers than everybody else. And make more money than everybody else. 

 

They could have a long career. More than 10 years, often more than 20 years. They were invited to play major roles. They were asked to be the hero (not the villain).

 

Members of the second category (some white women) would get job-offers. Not as many as members of the first category, but more than members of the other categories. And they would make money. Not as much as members of the first category, but more than members of the other categories. 

 

They could not have a long career. Only 5-10 years. They were invited to play major roles. They were asked to be the heroine (not the villain).

 

Members of the third category (for instance an African American man) would get job-offers, but not many. And they would make money, but not much. 

 

They could have a long career. They were invited to play supporting roles. They were asked to portray a subservient character (for instance a janitor) or a negative character (for instance a criminal).

 

Members of the fourth category (for instance an African American woman) would get few job-offers. They would not make much money. 

 

They could only have a short career. They were asked to play supporting roles. They were invited to portray a subservient character, for instance a maid, a servant or a slave.

 

A white woman had one factor which counted against her. She was not a man. But at least she was white.

 

An African American women had two factors which counted against her: 

 

(1) She was not white. 

(2) She was not a man.

 

A woman of color would always be the last person to be considered when benefits and opportunities were granted to actors.

 

Hollywood was not an equal opportunity employer. Men made more money than women. And white actors made more money than people of color.

 

Hattie McDaniel, an African American actress, played a role in the famous movie Gone with the Wind, which premiered in 1939. She was nominated for an Oscar and won an Oscar for her role in this movie. She was the first African American to win an Oscar.

 

The awards ceremony took place in Los Angeles in 1940 in a hotel which had a strict no-Blacks policy. This situation caused a heated discussion.

 

At first, the management refused to let her enter the building. When pressed, they allowed her to enter the building, but she had to enter via the back door. And during the ceremony she had to sit at a small table at the back of the room. She was not allowed to sit in the front with the other members of the cast.

 

When Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for her performance, the African American community responded in two different ways:

 

The first group was positive. They saw this case as a sign that Hollywood was finally beginning to recognize African Americans. They said: there are many small steps. They advised: be patient and eventually we will be accepted as equals.

 

The second group was negative. They asked: what kind of Oscar had she won? The answer: best supporting actress. They asked: what kind of person had she played in the movie? The answer: she was a maid, a servant, a slave.

 

They said: placing this actress in this role is not progressive at all. It is merely confirming all the stereotypes about African American women.

 

They said: we are not happy about this. They added: we cannot see this case as an example that Hollywood is beginning to recognize African Americans. They asked: where is the equality in this case?

 

The next generation of African American actors (for instance Lena Horne) refused to play the role of a maid or a servant. And what happened? Did Hollywood allow Lena Horne to play a leading role? No!

 

Hollywood allowed her to sing a few songs in a few movies and then she was out in the cold.

 

African American actors had to wait a long time before Hollywood was ready to cast one of them in a leading role. And they would have to wait even longer before one of them was awarded an Oscar.

 

Sidney Poiter won an Oscar for best actor in 1964. He was the first African American to win this prize. But he was a man. African American women had to wait even longer before one of them was awarded an Oscar.

 

The moment finally arrived in 2002 when Halle Berry won an Oscar for best actress for her performance in the movie Monsters Ball.

 

Her highly emotional acceptance speech is included in this film. It was (and still is) a pivotal moment in the history of African American entertainment.

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 81 percent, which corresponds to four stars on Amazon. There are no user reviews of this product on IMDb.

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 93 ratings of this product, 10 with reviews. The average rating is 4.8 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 96 percent.

 

Here are the details:

 

5 stars = 87 percent

4 stars = 9 percent

3 stars = 2 percent

2 stars = 0 percent

1 star = 2 percent

 

All ten reviews posted on Amazon offer five stars. But one of the ten reviewers seems to have made a mistake when posting the review.

 

The headline says:

 

“I don’t like it.”

 

The text reads as follows:

 

“Wasn’t really in-depth documentary. Just really glossed over the many black actresses that was featured in the film.”

 

The grammar is not good. But let us ignore this point. When we look at the headline and the text, we can see that this is not a five-star review. Something is wrong here. 

 

The reviewer must have made a mistake when he chose the rating. I think he wanted to offer one or two stars. But he accidentally pressed five stars. Mistakes can happen!

 

Owen Gleiberman wrote an extremely positive review of the film in Variety (17 April 2021).

 

The headline says:

 

“A captivating documentary salute to Cicely Tyson, Lena Horne, Nina Simone, and other black female stars who blazed the trail.”

 

The summary of the review says:

 

“Yoruba Richen’s sobering and enchanting film uncovers the radicalism of six timeless American entertainers.”

 

What do I think? I understand the many positive reviews, but I cannot agree completely with them. I cannot go all the way to the top.

 

What is wrong?

 

I have three objections.

 

# 1. The material is not organized in a good way. The six trailblazers are not presented one by one. The stories of their lives and careers are mixed up, which is confusing.

 

# 2. When the six trailblazers are interviewed, there is no information about when the interview took place. In most cases, the interview must have been made many years ago. We are talking about archive footage. The director Yoruba Richen did not do these interviews.

 

Only one of the six trailblazers (Pam Grier) is still alive today. Interviews with Pam Grier were probably done by the director. But what about the others?

 

Perhaps all interviews with the other five trailblazers were made before the director began working on this film. We do not know. There is no information.

 

# 3. The director presents six trailblazers who deserve to be known as such. But they are not the only ones. Other African American women who deserve the same description are not presented here. They are not even mentioned.

 

The following six entertainers were excluded when this film was made:

 

** Marian Anderson (1897-1993)

** Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

** Billie Holiday (1915-1959)

** Linda Martell (born 1941)

** Evelyn Preer (1896-1932)

** Ethel Waters (1896-1977)

 

CONCLUSION

This is an interesting film about an important topic. But as you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored; which cannot be overlooked.

 

I have to remove one star because of them. This is why I think this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

African American Actresses: 

The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-1960 

by Charlene Regester (2010)

 

Divas on Screen: 

Black Women in American Film 

by Mia Mask (2010)

 

How It Feels to Be Free:

Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement

by Ruth Feldstein (2013)

 

Supreme Actresses: 

Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood 

by Marcella Reynolds (2021)

 

*****

How It Feels to Be Free

American Masters

PBS, 2021

 

*****