James Earl Jones narrates this fascinating and moving documentary about the life of the assassinated black leader through various sources.
Direction
Perl weaves archive into urgent present-tense urgency.
Editing
Jarring juxtapositions that refuse to let you look away.
Director
Arnold Perl
James Earl Jones
Biographical Narration (voice)
Ossie Davis
Eulogy (voice)
Malcolm X
Self (archive footage)
Muhammad Ali
Self (archive footage)
H. Rap Brown
Self (archive footage) (as Rap Brown)
Kwame Ture
Self (archive footage)
John Carlos
Self (archive footage)
Eldridge Cleaver
Self (archive footage)
Angela Davis
Self (archive footage)
Charles Evers
Self (archive footage)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during the blaxploitation boom, this was radical counter-programming—serious Black cinema when Hollywood wanted Super Fly.
Spike Lee's 1992 biopic exists partly because this documentary proved there was audience hunger; Perl's film is literally the DNA of Lee's.
US
