I find the comparisons of 'Wattstax' with 'Woodstock' a little exaggerated on any dimension. As a musical event the five hours concert on the Olympic Stadium in LA was shorter, and less representative even of the the whole scene of black music of the time, while Woodstock was the big music event of a generation and gathered much of the cream of the rock music. From a social perspective while Woodstock was THE event of the hippie era to be talked about 40 years later, Wattstack got lost in a period rich of events that took the Afro-American society from segregation to equal political rights.
This does not mean that this documentary is a bad film, quite the opposite. The model of the Woodstock documentary is pretty well learned and followed, and we do feel the atmosphere of the day. The shots from the life in the black neighborhood of America are well chosen, and give documentary value to the movie. Pryor's monologues are fun, kind of a stand-up show avant-la-lettre, best in dealing with the realities of life in black America from a humorist perspective. Some of the other interviews seem a little artificial, part of the guys talk like Jesse Lackson the politician, while Jesse Jackson himself looks more natural as he had not become a politician yet.
Music is of course supposed to be the big prize of such a film. I felt somehow disappointed not only because of the too many missing names who could have joined such a show, but also because the concert does not seem to have been in the focus of Mel Stuart when he made the film, he lets us guess too many times who are the singers or maybe relies on a familiarity with the faces that went lost in 35 years, and some songs are cut in the middle for some more spoken words. Music could have made a better case even on the social issues if it was let to have more of its saying.
This does not mean that this documentary is a bad film, quite the opposite. The model of the Woodstock documentary is pretty well learned and followed, and we do feel the atmosphere of the day. The shots from the life in the black neighborhood of America are well chosen, and give documentary value to the movie. Pryor's monologues are fun, kind of a stand-up show avant-la-lettre, best in dealing with the realities of life in black America from a humorist perspective. Some of the other interviews seem a little artificial, part of the guys talk like Jesse Lackson the politician, while Jesse Jackson himself looks more natural as he had not become a politician yet.
Music is of course supposed to be the big prize of such a film. I felt somehow disappointed not only because of the too many missing names who could have joined such a show, but also because the concert does not seem to have been in the focus of Mel Stuart when he made the film, he lets us guess too many times who are the singers or maybe relies on a familiarity with the faces that went lost in 35 years, and some songs are cut in the middle for some more spoken words. Music could have made a better case even on the social issues if it was let to have more of its saying.