Search - What Happened, Miss Simone? on DVD

Gloria B. (glowbird) from SPOKANE, WA
Reviewed on 12/13/2021...

Have had this on my WL a long while, and finally received it through the system. That was the first surprise; the second surprise was that this 2-disc contains the documentary plus a CD. I love Nina Simone, so the CD is a bonus for me. I liked this documentary that showed her musical growth from childhood into adulthood, and her activist period where she seemed to come into her own personally and as a musician. That is my favorite of her recording period, but I regret that my favorite from this period was not played in full, which is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., "Why? (The King of Love is Dead)." The documentary shows Simone's demons and is at times disturbing. I believe it was her daughter who says that she loved the violence, that is, the violence of domestic abuse and later the violent activism. It isn't until near the end of the documentary that we find out she suffered from bi-polar disorder, and her explosive temper begins to make sense. Hers is a phenomenal career juxtaposed to a personal story that is fraught with sadness that her condition wasn't diagonosed earlier.

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