WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?

US, 2015, 100 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Liz Garbus.

Nina Simone was something of an American icon in the music world. The title for this film comes from a question by poet, artist, performer, Maya Angelou. Nina Simone had an extraordinary influence as a singer, as pianist, as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. But, after 1968, she moved out of the United States, some media entrepreneurs wary of performance because of such anti-white, violence-inciting lyrics and songs and her powerful performance and interactions with audiences.

This film has been produced by her daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, who, after a career in the military, has become a singer in her own right. She had a hard life with her mother but at the age of 14 moved to live with her father in New York City. She sometimes bore the brunt of her mother’s violence. It was only later that Nina Simone was diagnosed as bipolar.

The film traces the life and career, highlighting episodes in life with particular songs. Much of the material for the comes from archives and records of Nina Simone’s performances. Many photographs but few talking heads, principally her daughter and a 2006 excerpt from her ex-husband.

There are details of the life, her ambitions to be a concert pianist, moving into singing, many recordings and performances, managed by a husband. She was particularly moved by the death of the little girls burned to death in 1964 and became passionate about the Civil Rights Movement, composing the famous, Mississippi Goddam, singing at the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery, and strongly influenced by Martin Luther King

U 1968, she moved to Africa, especially Liberia, taking her daughter with her. While she did sing at jazz festivals, most of the rest of her life was outside the United States, in Paris, Holland, the south of France, where the depression had been diagnosed and medication help to get better

This is always an interesting film, with good details about the artist’s life, many excerpts of the performances, some comments about her personality and illness, the perspective of the daughter making the film as a tribute to mother, a tale of talent and tragedy.

1. Nina Simone as music icon? Singing, playing the piano?


2. This film as biography, portrait? The material the archives? The clips of her singing? Association of her life events with the songs? The talking heads, limited? Her daughter and her contribution? Her husband? Her civil rights activities? The combination?

3. The title, the question from Maya Angelou? Nina Simone as a figure, singer, civil rights activist, Mississippi Goddam?

4. The influence of the burning children in 1964, marches, influence of Martin Luther King, the associations with celebrities in the movement, the comments of Dick Gregory? Singing in Montgomery? The effect of Martin Luther King’s death?

5. Her background, the South, her family, her white teacher? Singing in church? The piano lessons and practice for years? The recital, her parents segregated, taking a stand?

6. A woman of anger and rage, the lyrics and signs being anti-white, urging to kill? The strong performances, reaching out to the audiences, the reactions? The reaction of the media, their reluctance to allow her to perform?

7. The attraction to Andy, their meeting, his looking after the commercial side her career, his past as police in New York City? The marriage, the birth of their daughter, life together, the brutality? His not appreciating the civil rights activities? The separation, the divorce? The interview with him in 2006?

8. The daughter, Nina’s treatment her daughter, travel, to Africa, education, her mother’s anger, feeling suicidal, going to live with her father, the years passing, Nina’ diagnosis, bipolar, her daughter making connections with her again, producing the film as a tribute to her mother?

9. The absence from America, presence in Africa, Liberia, lifestyle in Liberia founded by slaves? Her performances? The jazz festivals at Montreux, her return?

10. 1980s, 1990s, going to Paris, Nijmegen, singing in Montreux, dependent on friends?

11. The visuals of her physical condition, deterioration using different accents in different circumstances?

12. The diagnosis, medication, becoming calmer, understanding?

13. The various musical styles, her comeback? Urging the member of the audience to sit down? Still stern?

14. Talent and tragedy?