Finding Fela!

Fela Kuti Director: Alex Gibney Alex Gibney

Overview

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney turns his attention to the life and career of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, one of the first world-music superstars, who used his art in order to protest the harmful leadership controlling Nigeria. In Finding Fela!, Gibney explains how the musician's message reached around the globe, and how he has stood as an example to artists working in other dictatorships.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/13/2015
UPC:	0738329156022
Original Release:	2014
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Lorber
Region Code:	1
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	51,793

Special Features

Eight extended interviews; Femi Kuti sax solo at the new Africa shrine; Podcast interview with director Alex Gibney; Stills gallery/trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Fela Kuti	Actor
Yeni Kuti	Interviewee
Seun Kuti	Interviewee
Bill T. Jones	Interviewee
Jim Lewis	Interviewee
Rikki Stein	Interviewee
Lemi Ghariokwu	Interviewee
Kewe Anikulapo-Kuti	Interviewee
Michael Veal	Interviewee
Sandra Izsadore	Interviewee
John Darnton	Interviewee
Dele Sosimi	Interviewee
J.K. Braimah	Interviewee
Francis Kertekian	Interviewee
Tony Allen	Interviewee
Carlos Moore	Interviewee
Okwechime Abdul	Interviewee
Ogugua Iwelu	Interviewee
Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson	Interviewee
Paul McCartney	Interviewee

Technical Credits

Alex Gibney	Director,Producer
Maryse Alberti	Cinematographer
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti	Score Composer
Alison Ellwood	Co-producer
Jack Gulick	Producer
Stephen Hendel	Executive Producer
Ruth Hendel	Executive Producer
Lindy Jankura	Editor
Tony Volante	Sound Mixer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Finding Fela!
1. A Revolutionary Voice [15:41]
2. Lagos, Nigeria [6:57]
3. The Early Years [13:47]
4. Afrobeat [12:40]
5. The Entourage [8:13]
6. Militant Zombies [10:06]
7. Brutalized [10:25]
8. Musical Shift [11:20]
9. Imprisoned [15:09]
10. For Ever Lives Africa [12:36]
11. Chapter 11 [3:02]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Finding Fela!
   Play
   Chapters
   Extras
      Extended Interviews
         Play All
         Nina & John Darnton
         Yeni Kuti
         Seun Kuti
         Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
         Sandra Izsadore & Tony Allen
         Stephen Hendel
         Rikki Stein
         Lemi Ghariokwu
      Femi Kuti at the New Afrika Shrine
      Podcast Interview with Director Alex Gibney
      Stills Gallery
         Stills Gallery
      Trailer
   Audio
      Dolby Digital 5.1
      Dolby Digital 2.0

Editorial Reviews

The "Fela" of the title is Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-97), Nigerian Afrobeat musician, composer, provocateur, and cultural icon; Finding Fela! is maverick documentarian Alex Gibney's two-hour biography of the controversial figure. Gibney proceeds more or less chronologically through Kuti's life, though he also uses the Bill T. Jones Broadway musical Fela! as a guide to its many phases, cutting between standard documentary footage and scenes from the stage show with an electric, sweat-drenched Adesola Osakalumi playing Kuti. Throughout, Gibney also interpolates interview snippets with fans such as Jones, Sir Paul McCartney, and others, all of whom reminisce about Kuti's life, exploits, and impact. From the standpoint of documentary craftsmanship, the film is above board; in terms of Gibney's catalogue, it is minor. Nothing that happens on camera goes awry in any egregious way, but this motion picture lacks the heightened sense of investigative discovery and revelation that Gibney's masterful Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Mea Maxima Culpa, and the virtually flawless We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks possessed. One could argue that that can be attributed to the timing of the subject: Kuti passed away around a decade prior to the initial stages of this film, which was in production for at least five years. More likely, though, it's a product of the picture's surprising failure to establish our sense of Kuti as a serious political force. Onscreen tales of his reckless lifestyle (such as anecdotes detailing his sexual profligacy, drug use, and various other debaucheries) are entertaining, but the movie calls attention to its own flaw when one of the commentators observes -- in so many words -- that Kuti was never organized or focused enough to be considered a major revolutionary presence. Okay, we say to ourselves, that's all well and good, but how then is it possible that Kuti attained the posthumous status of an African political icon? We never quite gain that insight. What the film does provide is an involving, occasionally provocative meditation on the links between history and theater, life and art. In addition to an overarching suggestion that Fela spent decades obsessively attempting to sculpt his world into one flamboyant, outrageous performance piece -- a perspective for which the movie builds a persuasive and compelling case -- there are extended backstage observations of the struggles that Jones and his team faced as they tried to mold Kuti's wild and colorful life into a commercially viable Broadway production. These sequences feel remarkable -- awe-inspiring, engrossing, thought-provoking -- and to Gibney's credit, they are also not without humor, as when one of the commentators reasonably asks how it is possible to create on-stage musical numbers from tunes authored by a musician whose performances seldom clocked in at less than 30 or 45 minutes per song. As an added bonus: Jones himself is so vibrant and interesting that you almost wish Gibney had forgotten Fela and focused entirely on the choreographer. Viewers who walk in hoping for a serious political exploration of Kuti's life and legacy -- something one expects on the basis of Gibney's prior work -- may feel a bit let down by this picture. However, those willing to forego politics and approach the movie as an examination of theater and a study of a beguiling character will feel amply rewarded.

All Movie Guide - Nathan Southern