Synopsis
A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current day Watts neighborhood. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film.
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Cast
Recommendations
- 100
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Commentary from shockingly outspoken Watts residents on topics ranging from revolution to infidelity are a vital part of the documentary. - 90
Washington Post
The result is a time capsule par excellence...This is the best of times and the worst of times, African American style. - 90
Washington Post
A candid, colorful and deeply meaningful sociocultural time capsule, one that captured the black community at the height of its political energy and optimism. - 80
The A.V. Club
Now an invaluable time capsule, the film has to transcend its own conceptual messiness. - 75
Boston Globe
Wattstax is a disorienting and ironic moviegoing experience. It's a film about the curative powers of rhythm-and-blues music that sets out to frustrate your sense of rhythm in its insistence on the blues. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
I wish I could say that Wattstax was an ecstatic soul celebration, but most of the performances, while enjoyable, fall short of memorable. - 70
TV Guide Magazine
The film is saved by the raw power of the performances, and especially, Richard Pryor's bitterly funny observations. - 70
Village Voice
Not only documents the soul-titan concert held at L.A. Coliseum seven years after Watts burned, but illuminates the rue and kinesis of a city in full Black Power flower.
