AMAZING GRACE: How Sweet The Sound

This film is a miracle of sorts. For one, director Sydney Pollack forgot to clapperboard images to sound when shooting Aretha Franklin in 1972 at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church. The footage of Amazing Grace – the best selling gospel album of all time – was said to be untidy at best, unusable at worst. But oh, ye have little faith. Whether it was a gift from God or the singular vitality of technological advancements, whose to say? All I can say is that this gift of cinematic resurrection brings back Aretha in all her soul-quaking glory.

It Hits All The Right Notes

If you like Aretha you will like this documentary. If you don’t…. how don’t you like Artetha Franklin? By 1972, she had already recorded 20 albums and won five Grammy’s, as well as garnered the fitting nicknames “Queen of Soul” and “The First Lady of Music.” Her music, as mesmerizing as a still ocean, could bring waves of joy to a joyless world – the album was released amidst the Watergate Scandal and the Urban Crisis. Still, to step into that church was to be baptized. The purity of her voice left the congregation renewed and restored.

Music is the documentarie’s not-so-secret-sauce. There are no camera tricks, special effects, or thematic devices; just Aretha singing her heart out. With a glittery white dress, an afro that would make a young Julius Erving jealous, and that life-changing voice that prevails from thunderous start to exquisite finish. The whole film is life changing. Your feet will tap, your head will bob and your eyes will water – will they ever! – as she performs Wholly Holy, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and of course, Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound.

Unexpectedly, this is far from a one woman show. The Southern California Community Choir chimes in, wearing silver suites that reflect light like disco balls. And then there’s a balls-out Rev. James Cleveland, who isn’t sure whether to sing, sweat, or weep. When he’s not on the piano you can find his arms reaching for the heavens. Yet it’s the crowd that is the picture’s binding force.

Pollack and his crew often face their cameras on the ecstatic spectators. Panning across awestruck faces the way Truffaut did with kids in The 400 Blows, he captures a raw emotion seldom found in movies. These are real people bursting out of their chairs in cheer, shaking off goosebumps the only way they know how. Now, 46 years later, we can all join the congregation.

A Touch of Good Fortune

Thanks to producer Allan Elliot, who purchased the Warner Brother’s failed footage, and editor Jeff Buchanan, who made hard work look easy – this is seamless in ways it had no right to be. Working with the original 16mm prints and unorthodox camera angles, there’s a vital energy to it. Pollack puts you there. You will feel as if you are one with the crowd, clapping along with Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger. Shaking your head in disbelief like her father as he watches his daughter hit notes that could make a grown man cry. It moved me to tears.

Equally moving was the passionate work it took to get this out there. Not only did it cost a small fortune to attain the rights, but Elliot had to fight off the peskiness of lawyers and equally stubborn bureaucrat’s like flies. He eventually did, only to be sued by Aretha in 2011 for reasons never fully disclosed. Even then, Elliot found nobility in inability. Through perseverance, a touch of good fortune, and the Franklin family’s approval, we get a success that eclipses our already lofty expectations.

Amazing Grace: Conclusion

This isn’t so much a product of great filmmaking as much as it is product of a great subject. All Pollack had to do was be there. To turn his camera on and receive the otherworldly charm on stage. The good news is that he didn’t miss a beat. And neither should you. This glorious time capsule is the stuff of miracles.

Have you seen Amazing Grace? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

Amazing Grace will be released in theaters in the US on April 5, 2019 and the UK on May 10, 2019. For all international release dates, see here.