In January 1972, Aretha Franklin gave two concerts on two consecutive days at a Baptist church in Los Angeles. The 29-year-old soul and R&B singer had already gained worldwide fame and the unofficial crown of Queen of Soul Music. In these two concerts she was returning to her musical roots, the gospel music she had known and began to play as a child in the Detroit church where her father preached. The concerts were recorded and filmed. The album whose name was ‘Amazing Grace’ has become one of the most famous in the history of this genre. The film footage however had a more complicated fate, although the filming commissioned by the Warner Brothers studios had been coordinated by the young director Sydney Pollack, who was already known for the 1969 ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?‘. Technical problems of the synchronization between the footage and the soundtrack made it impossible to complete the film until technical methods emerged to overcome them. Later, both Aretha and Pollack, each for their own reasons, opposed some publicly unknown ones, to launch the movie on screens. It is a shame that only after their death the viewers had the opportunity to become acquainted with this film, which in my opinion is a great achievement, a document that honors them and invites respect for both artists.
Minister James Cleveland, who presents the concert and joins Aretha with the piano and his voice, warns us from start that we will attend a religious ceremony. Indeed, the movie ‘Amazing Grace‘ belongs to the sacred area, and this happens even if you, as a spectator, are religious or not, Christian or not. The voice, the feeling of the singers and of the chorus, the participation of the audience make this concert much more than a musical event with religious content. Aretha Franklin was at the peak of her musical form (where she stayed for several decades) but here, in the church, more than any other concert or recording, she seems to be in her element. In fact, she is the true leader of the sacred ceremony that takes place in the church in Los Angeles, the musical experiences in which she embarks as partners all those who saw her then live as well as those who later listened to the music or see now the movie.
Having to deal with a small, crowded space, Sydney Pollack used a relatively large number of portable cameras, constantly moving and searching for the most special angles. Aretha‘s close-ups are anthological. Post-processing and sound-image synchronization work perfectly. ‘Amazing Grace‘ the movie gives us, almost half a century later, the feeling that we took part in this exceptional musical event, that we were close to the great singer interpreting the musical genre in which she grew up and which she raised to a high artistic level. It is one of the most special and beautiful filmed concerts I have ever seen.