Soul Power

"The greatest music festival that you have never seen."

Jun 10 2009 PG-13 1h 32m
Documentary, Music

Soul Power is a 2008 documentary film about the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa which accompanied the Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in October 1974. The film was made from archival footage; other footage shot at the time focusing on the fight was edited to form the film When We Were Kings.

Plot

In 1974, music producers, Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine worked with the boxing promoter, Don King, to create a music festival in Africa to run concurrently with his championship boxing match he arranged with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, aka "The Rumble in the Jungle," in Kinshasa, Zaire. However, due to an unforeseen delay due to Foreman injuring himself in training, it was decided that the music festival must still go on as scheduled. This film covers the preparation of that festival with both stage construction and the arrival of the participating musicians. When all is ready, the people of Zaire got to experience a musical event that Africa had never seen before with great African-American and local artists performing with verve and purpose, with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, just the biggest star of this musical extravaganza.

Written by

Stewart Levine

Directed by

Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Antidote Films (I)

Languages

English, Français

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
941
Average Rating
7.1 out of 10
Metascore
76
Popularity
NA