Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia

A film critic could perhaps pick holes in this as a movie.. but as a musical it was sublime. It brought tears to my eyes.

I have not heard much of Mahalia Jackson's music but the singing in this film would make your hair stand on end Alright, I am a sucker for stomping blues/gospel music and this delivers it in abundance I am still winding down.. Someone above said it was not gritty... well from what I have read her life was not gritty, although she suffered a deal of sorrow her faith kept strong.

A disappointing movie. The acting was terrible. There was information missing in the story that made the storyline confusing. Danielle Brooks has a beautiful voice but it did not provoke any emotions in me. Something was missing. The ending was kind of abrupt.

Loved this movie, a great biopic. Danielle Brooks was awesome. Think I spotted another "goof" though - when the young Mahalia was singing as a young girl at her house in 1926 her Aunt came in and Mahalia took the needle off the record she was singing along too. It showed a modern piece of vinyl on the record player which looked very much like a multi track LP which I'm pretty sure weren't made until 1948 by Columbia. Later on Mahalia said that as a young girl she used to sing along to Victrola records which were 78rpm Bakelite discs. Can't take anything away from the spirit of the movie though.

Loved the actors but the film didn't seem to have any real depth to it. The music is brilliant as are the actors that play both Mahalia and also Mildred. It wasn't gritty enough though somehow. All a bit sanitised I felt. Look.

When I purchased this movie, I doubted it had the budget to capture the talent of Mahalia Jackson. Her voice is one of a kind. However, I was surprised to find Danielle Brooks has a fantastic voice! Nobody can replicate Mahalia, but that's true of all the greatest singers. Brooks is a great singer in her own right and captured just enough of Mahalia to really make the movie work. The film features a great singer and also captured the dynamic personal life of Mahalia.