Singer Aretha Franklin performs gospel songs at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972.
This year is the year for found footage documentaries. For Apollo 11, they managed to use modern technology to read and convert never-before-seen footage from 70mm reels to digital. The reels were filmed for a film feature to be released in the early 1970s but were eventually archived and never used before now due to oversaturation of Apollo 11-related media (and later an inability to view them without 1960s projectors). A similar story occurred here. Aretha Franklin recorded her gospel album, Amazing Grace, live in front of an audience over two nights, and the studio sent a plethora of cameramen and videographers to capture the performances so as to release a documentary at a later date. Unfortunately, the audio and video did not sync up correctly, and it was shelved until recently when modern technology was able to overcome that issue.
That is what the main appeal is to these documentaries. This is not so much a look back, with an often biased narrative and interviews with people that were present that are still alive. Apart from using modern technology to sync up the audio and video, there is nothing that didn't come from 1972. No narration. No interviews. No politics. Simply a performance from Aretha Franklin in her peak. That is the appeal. We aren't watching a superfans impression of Aretha Franklin. Amazing Grace allows the audience to experience the performance firsthand as it happened.
Now, Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul for a reason. She managed to release 38 studio albums with 131 singles (88 of which ranked on the Billboard charts). An incredibly prolific singer, but while she may be remembered more for songs like Respect and I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You), that is not what Amazing Grace is about. Amazing Grace is a gospel album, effectively making it a live covers album of religious hymns.
So you can expect the likes of Give Yourself to Jesus, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, God Will Take Care Of You, Wholy Holy, and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. For the many that are unaware of the more religious songs, Amazing Grace will have less of a hold on you, because for many that have the faith, and have the belief, this performance is vindication, and it speaks to their inner self and represents the foundations of their lives.
That isn't to say that the concert performance is only to be enjoyed by those of faith. Aretha Franklin puts on an incredibly dynamic performance. Her voice is so spectacular and she sings with such ferocity and passion, that you cannot help but understand why the audience was absolutely enamoured with the show. Amazing Grace brings combines the 1972 audio with 1972 footage (along with some really peculiar cinematography), and while it lacks the high definition aesthetics or the seamless faultless production quality that modern audiences have come to expect, it provides a look at Aretha Franklin's unequivocal passion for her craft.
When I say the cinematography is peculiar, I am not kidding. the number of cameraman present is staggering, and they frequently end up getting caught in each other's shots, as they shoot from every possible direction. Some shooting so low that you would think they were trying for an upskirt (and at one point it even seems to anger members of the audience). The odd multitude of angles do help to convey the energy of the room; as while Aretha Franklin may be static in her performance, her backing choir is anything but static.
This is gospel, but this is also Aretha -adapted gospel. Which means it is fiery and heartfelt, but also slow-building. To that end, Amazing Grace will no doubt appeal to the fans of Aretha Franklin. However, as this covers gospel music, and not her original works (which would have popped up in one form or another in modern media as pop culture references) the documentary is unlikely to create a new wave of Aretha Franklin fans.
It's fevered and frenzied, but ultimately your knowledge of Franklin prior to viewing Amazing Grace will determine whether you end up in tears, or apathetic.
Originally posted to: http://djin.nz/Kr