Maya Angelou and Still I Rise

Maya Angelou and Still I Rise (2016) was co-directed by Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack.

Maya Angelou was an icon of our times. This is a solid biography, filled with clips from Angelou's past as well as interviews with celebrities who knew her: Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Nikki Giovanni, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, etc.

Somehow, this biography didn't move me as much as I thought it would. It's true that, not being a person of color, I may have missed some aspects of Dr. Angelou's personality and achievements that others perceived.

For me--as for many--Maya Angelou is remembered as a poet. I think that's what was missing from the film. We hardly heard Dr. Angelou or anyone else recite her poetry. I think that would have made for a more meaningful movie.

The film worked well on the small screen. It has a very strong IMDb rating of 7.9. I didn't think it was quite that good, and rated it 7.