And it does so without ever becoming preachy the play remains the thing, and the imperatives of dramatic art are ever observed. Griffiths racist propaganda film Birth of a Nation was “history written by lightening,” Cadillac Records is history written with enlightenment.Ĭadillac Record’s is remarkably candid in portraying the racist social etiquette and oppressive political system of white supremacy that it supported. ![]() ![]() And if Woodrow Wilson – a former US President and Princeton history Professor – thought D.W. I am especially thrilled when I see another important slice of black life successfully portrayed on the giant silver screen, where it literally becomes larger than life. ![]() The much celebrated Afro-American novelist Ralph Ellison, reflecting on the birth of Be-bop in Harlem’s “Minton’s Play House,” observed that “Music gives resonance to memory.” And as this movie is about the migration of Mississippi country blues musicians to the great city of Chicago, we have a treasure trove of sound portraits that mirror their journey.Īs a student and teacher of history I am intensely interested in historical drama and fictions. But the ultimate time machine is the music they played back then. A period piece set in the racially tumultuous era between the end of the great depression and the outbreak of World War II in the early 1940’s, and the turbulent 1960’s when the walls of segregation – which had defined the lives and art of the bluesmen in fundamental ways – came tumbling down, we follow the lives, loves and musical careers of the legendary Mississippi bluesmen who created the “ Delta Blues.’ And one of the many achievements of this remarkable movie is the way it shows how their sound was the bedrock upon which a multi-billion dollar industry was built, as the musical styles that became world famous as Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, and Hard Rock all evolved from these blues roots – what the perceptive music critic Robert Palmer calls “ Deep Blues” in his authoritative book by that name.Īs in any historical movie the sets, costumes, language, etc play a critical role in the ability of the film to transport us back in time. New York ( Tadias) – Ever so often a movie comes along that captures the spirit of an age, Parkwood Pictures’ Cadillac Records is such a movie. The legendary artists of a Chicago music label. (Jennifer Hudson, mercifully, is absent this time ’round, thus sparing our eardrums of her lung-busting bellow.Above: In Cadillac Records, Beyoncé Knowles plays Etta James, Where “Dreamgirls” had Jamie Foxx as an impressario based on Motown’s Berry Gordy, “Cadillac Records” has Adrien Brody as label head Leonard Chess “Dreamgirls” saw Eddie Murphy do his best James Brown imitation, and “Cadillac Records” has Jeffrey Wright morphing into Muddy Waters Beyonce Knowles had the Diana Ross role in “Dreamgirls,” and she’s back as blues diva Etta James in the new flick. With Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Etta James on their roster, Chess championed an electric urban blues sound that was destined to become the roots of rock ‘n’ roll, worshipped by people like Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Jimmy Page. ![]() After Hollywood’s huge success with “Dreamgirls,” the thinly fictionalized story of legendary soul/R&B label Motown, along comes “Cadillac Records.” This musical biopic goes one step further back in the history of black American music, and comes up with a thinly fictionalized look at legendary blues label Chess Records.
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