Travel Movie Watch: ‘Soul Power’

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  07.09.09 | 12:37 PM ET

Most folks have heard of the Rumble in the Jungle, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s 1974 showdown in Kinshasa, but the accompanying concert—in which James Brown was one of several starring acts—is less well remembered. Now, though, Brown’s time in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) is the focus of a new documentary, “Soul Power.”

An article in the Telegraph suggests that the doc offers outstanding live concert footage, as well as drawing some compelling comparisons between Ali and Brown—and it also creates a portrait of a city (and a country) very few outsiders know anything about. Gervase de Wilde writes that “Soul Power” provides “evocative snapshots of a relatively optimistic moment in the country’s troubled post-colonial history. The wide, elegant boulevards of Kinshasa, flashes of modernist architecture and sharply dressed locals give a flavour of twentieth century Africa utterly different from the image we are familiar with from news bulletins or charity appeals.”

Sounds like a must-see to me. Here’s the trailer:

Tags: Documentaries, Movies, Music, Pop Culture Travel, Sports, Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Shrinking Planet

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


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