Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

This is a difficult movie to watch, but what makes it difficult is also why it is important to watch. It celebrates one of the great American playright August Wilson's work. The play is his 1920's installment in the Century Cycle, which reflects on the experiences of blacks in America over the entire 20th century, decade by decade. The other two in this ten play collection that I have seen are equally powerful. I hope that there will be more interest in bringing the plays to a broader audience. There are three approaches to the realities of being a blues musician in the Roaring 20's. Ma Rainey understands that she is being taken advantage of but also that she is an essential piece of the equation, so she participates (she is one of the few musicians from that time period that recordings of her work survives) and yet she is not easy to work with. She understands both her power and her limitations. Then there are the members of her band, who walk on egg shells with her, being both appreciative of the work but aware of how fragile the situation is. They want it badly, they love what they are doing, it is a great living, but one that depends on so many others that it is also fragile. Then there is Levee Green, as portrayed by the late great Chadwick Baldwin. Levee is a fast-talking, ambitious charmer, as quick with his horn as he is with a pick up line. He’s old enough to know better, but young enough to think he can outrun the consequences of his actions. The later is his downfall, that and thinking that he can escape the racism that surrounds him, that he will be treated fairly. He is the tragic figure, surrounded by the choir and comes to the inevitable end that all tragic figures succumb to.