Too many times the voiceless have been used (and still are on) as a subject for privileged people in need of a story so they can be a 'maker'. (See some of my other reviews concerning this).
When it comes to the marginalised, rarely documentaries have been done ethically and sincerely. The power ratio is off kilter and without integrity the process and result is often cliché, one dimensional and narrow. The caucasian in power often thinks he is doing something good for the poor brown and black, but not (willingly) conscious enough to see that it's an act of selfishness. The marginalised used as a tool, yet again. A terrible irony.
If the calling to shed light on them was sincere, they could easily facilitate the means for them to produce it themselves, for themselves. But no.
Baldwin here in 1970, very intelligent, sharp and conscious. He took the invitation of what would have him be subjected to the makers paradigm. He flipped it on him and shifted it into vulnerable reality, the portrayal of a fierce naked marginalised soul with piercing screaming eyes conscious of his major voice as a minority... shouting loudly for those without, way up above the narrow and limited subjective box of what would have been.
