What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

If you have Netflix streaming, you really should see this fascinating documentary!! Though I lived through the 50s and 60s, I don't remember Nina Simone (born in 1933 in North Carolina as Eunice Waymon) except in a very obscure way: an expatriated American icon of some sort. Yet, she had unbelievable talents that broke all boundaries of instrumental and vocal performing. From childhood, she was trained in classical piano and was ready to become the first Black Woman to perform in Carnegie Hall. However, due to her life circumstances, she became something else. She became someone with totally unique abilities—abilities and feelings that transcended all types of music, poetry, and social activism. Yet, she had a very tragic life that is a story in itself.I have never seen a documentary that so perfectly captures a life of a very complicated person as well as this one did!! What's equally amazing is that there were so many video clips available (from so many different venues and over so much time) to use in putting this story personal story together. How does one talk about Nina Simone and her life? How do you classify her music or performing skills? Is it classical piano—gospel—jazz—soul— folk—social activism —poetry—or what? She wrote many songs that only she could written: she was the first black American to really express, in music, what so many people could only express in words (Malcolm X, James Baldwin), plays (Lorraine Hansberry) or poetry (Langston Hughes). And--as a black WOMAN--she expressed the anger that black men could not hope to at the time as in "Mississippi Goddam."Her songs are also about freedom as well as her search to find her black identity as in "To be Young Gifted and Black" (inspired by Loranie Hansberry's play).I'm convinced that the only way—or at least the best way--to BEGIN to understand Nina Simone is through this great documentary that follows her life from her childhood to death in the south of France!! Both her daughter and her former husband are narrators of the documentary, which gives us even more insight into her struggles.

I woke up reflecting on "What Happened, Miss Simone?" and am now feeling like I spent last night sitting through some home movies at a family reunion.Am thinking that a documentary about the great Nina Simone should have left me feeling like I had thrown back five vodka martinis (all imagined folks...I don't roll like that)....Am thinking about the times...her deep isolation as a child prodigy...her musical mentors...her contemporaries (Malcolm, Stokely, Belafonte, Farrakhan -- all four Caribbean men BTW, Jimmy B, the Panthers, Mahalia, Maya, et. al. ...her art in service of the movement...her ambivalence about European classical music vs. pop/jazz/movement music...her moodiness at performances that rivaled Miles' darkness...her many musical collaborators...her unbound sexual appetite...her mental illness...her exile to West Africa then Europe...her money troubles...her abandonment of her child...her husband's financial, emotional, and physical violence...her white savior...race...colorism....I mean, this is the woman who did this: >>>One time in New York I went to see an off-Broadway play with Bill Dukes and Brock Peters - two fine black actors - in the cast. I thought the roles they played were insulting to black people, and I got up there on stage in the middle of the show and told them so. I stopped the play in its tracks to ask them why they were doing trash like that. One of them said something about needing the money, but that was no excuse. They apologized, and took me home in a cab. I was half-crazy with anger that night, a woman on fire, and that was how I felt most of the time as I watched my people struggling for their rightful place in America. <<< This is an extract from her autobiography, I Put a Spell On You http://www.goodreads.com/bo…/show/88328.I_Put_a_Spell_on_YouThis doc could have been toothier if the filmmakers had focused on the woman and her extraordinary life...and perhaps not given as much space to her ex-husband and her daughter....

It's not that the subjects and facts relayed in this documentary are incorrect. But it is such a one-sided view of Nina Simone, without a focus on her amazing achievements. More of a "let me tell you the truth about my crazy Mother". Honestly - I could care less about Nina's depression, and abusive behavior. I admire her courage and her incredible talent. Not a mention of her music really - it functions more as a backdrop to this angry, slightly sad, slightly defeated so-called "objective" rendering of her life.Cinematography and visuals are interesting and powerful. But anecdotes are all on the negative side. As Oscar said, Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is usually Judas who writes the biography. In this case, Judas is the kids. And a few friends and family, who come off genuine really don't help the cause that one's life should be framed by one's flaws and failures.Nina Simone should be remembered and celebrated for her amazing career and accomplishments. This documentary is more of a negative footnote to all of that and can easily be forgotten.

"What Happened, Miss Simone?" is a documentary that premiered on Netflix on June 26, 2015. It's about the life and times of singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone.Using a vast array of archival footage and interviews with Miss Simone and those who knew her, the movie, Directed by Liz Garbus, paints an interesting picture of this singular talent. She started playing piano at four and performing in church at revivals, when she wanted to be the first black classical pianist to play professionally, music schools wouldn't take her - just because of the color of her skin. Nina went on to playing jazz in clubs and her unique style drew attention. She soon met her husband and manager Andrew Stroud - from there her life was filled with great heights and shattering lows. Nina's diary entries talked about spousal abuse, how she suffered from manic depression and how with her constant touring took a tole on her, saying she was being "worked like a dog" by her husband.Things changed in 1963 when four little girls where killed in a racially instigated church bombing in Alabama. Nina wrote "Mississippi Goddamn" as a response and from then dedicated herself to civil rights for black Americans. This hurt her career commercially - a Harlem concert in 1969 with her singing "are you ready to smash white things, to kill if you have to" is very telling of the scorn and anger she felt against discrimination she had witnessed her whole life, as well as her passion for change.The movie is a candid and honest telling of Nina's life, and in a revealing scene her daughter Lisa reveals that she was abused by her mother during their time living in Africa.Nina Simone is a complex and fascinating woman, and this movie is a very revealing look at her life. It has enough interesting concert and interview footage from the fifties to the eighties to satiate returning fans, as well as give viewers new to her music the definitive look at the life of the "High Priestess of Soul"