Snark, Critic and Pop!

This film was viewed as part of the 2010 Charlotte Film Festival.  We are lucky enough to cover this event for the second consecutive year, our complete coverage of last years festival can be found here.

This years Charlotte Film Festival (the fifth annual) started off with a documentary called Soundtrack for a Revolution, which was written and directed by documentary film makers Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman.  It tells the story of the civil rights movement in America through the protest songs that activists sang throughout the struggle.  Artists such as The Roots, Wyclef Jean, Joss Stone and John Legend (to name just a few) give warm, intimate performances of the songs which are interspersed which footage of the activists themselves telling the story of the movement and singing the songs.  People such as Harry Belafonte, John Lewis and Rev. Edwin King give first hand accounts of the horrors as well as the triumphs they witnessed firsthand.

Where the movie really excels is it’s ability to portray through the artists performances and the interviewees singing the beauty and power of the songs without taking away from the powerful story, and without minimizing the events of the movement.  (continue reading…)