The documentary "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" shows Marion Barry's rise to power and fall from it, as well as how he was as a person and how he was seen as. If you don't know who Marion Barry is, he was the mayor of Washington D. C. for four terms and somehow kept running after being seen doing drugs on camera. This documentary is directed and produced by Dana Flor, and has interviews from tons of different perspectives and even an interview with Marion Barry and his wife themselves.
As someone who had only heard of Marion Barry once or twice I was shocked to find out the extent of his actions and how he was in power for so long. I thought that the documentary painted a fair picture of Marion Barry, and shows how he indeed did do many bad things, like doing cocaine and cheating on his wife. However, the documentary also tells the story of how Marion Barry gave many Black Americans in D. C. jobs and how he changed the government and made it fairer to people of color.
The documentary also shows the people's view of Marion Barry and how the citizens of Washington felt about him. I thought that the documentary did this part the best as it shows both sides and perspectives about Marion Barry. For example, the documentary had a ton of different interviews with different historians and civilians who voted for Marion Barry and citizens who didn't vote for him. Marion Barry himself and his wife are even interviewed for this documentary. I loved how the documentary did this and how they gave all these perspectives because it allowed the viewer to make their own connections and views about Marion Barry based on the facts that were presented and to what he says in his interview and how he acts.
The documentary also shows how some of Barry's strengths can also be some of his weaknesses. For example the documentary shows how charismatic Barry was and how that led him into power, but it also shows how women were led to him from his charisma and his wealth and power. The documentary also does an excellent job of taking the viewer for a ride nearing the end of the film. I remember I was jumping in my chair when it showed how he came back into power after there was video evidence of him snorting cocaine whilst cheating on his wife. This happened again when he was drug tested for cocaine and tested positive, but yet was somehow re-elected back into power for Ward 8. I thought that this part really separates the documentary from other films as this documentary had me invested in and I was actually interested in Barry's story about how he came into power.
Overall, I thought that this documentary portrayed Marion Barry in an unbiased way, and it allowed the viewer to decide how to see Marin Barry, rather than just being told an opinion on his situation and being influenced solely by that opinion. I also enjoyed how the documentary kept you interested with introducing all of the new things he was doing, but at the same time showing off all of his flaws and misdoings throughout his career. Despite all of this, I feel that the documentary deserves a 7/10 as it keeps you interested, however it takes some time to get going and can be quite slow in the early stages of the film.
