An outstanding documentary on the "Godfather of Soul (and all the other names he made up for himself)." This is not a film where all the interviewees bend and pucker to JB's backside, and reminisce on how the celebrity is the best thing since the pop-top canned beer can.
"Mr. Dynamite" is about a very driven, egotistical man, an unabashed self-promoter, a perfectionist, a control freak, a deadbeat (sometimes his band was not paid for either both live performances and studio sessions), someone who didn't' appreciate (but took credit for) the influence his musicians had on the music, and was a committer of domestic violence.
But he man instinctively understood how to play to an audience of any race color or creed.
James Brown spent his formative years in poverty. His mother left the family when he was four years old. His father left when he was six. He took refuge with an aunt, who operated a whorehouse. He sang and danced in front of the whorehouse for nickels and dimes, which people passing by would throw on the ground. He was caught stealing and sentenced eight years. The formative years can stay with a person, and he is described later in life as "lonely." He didn't trust anybody. If your mother abandons a child at four, and a father abandoned a child at six, the child might inherently not trust anyone.
The documentary also gives credit to his positive activity in the civil rights movement. On this subject, JB and others failed. What' the latest death rate by shooting in Chicago? But he tried his damned, as he always did. JB championed picking yourself up by your bootstraps ("I don't want nobody to give me nothing/open up the door/I'll get it myself") rather than government handouts.
Despite his personal demons and other mental frailties – The man was a genius. A true original.
