Three documentaries from my old stomping grounds, two down, one to go ...
LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE (A-minus) - This thoroughly uplifting documentary chronicles the fight by students, parents and administrators to keep their high-performing elementary school from being closed by the school district on behalf other residents of the gentrified South Loop of Chicago. It might instill faith in the next generation.
Filmmaker Kevin Shaw -- working with "Hoop Dreams" legend Steve James as executive producer -- embeds with the black residents of an evolving neighborhood as they battle to stop the school district from converting their amazing elementary school into a high school, a plan intended to appease the high-brow neighborhood newbies.
Elisabeth Greer, a mother of two young ones, is the leader of the group defending National Teachers Academy, which has essentially an A+ rating from CPS. Greer invites students to disrupt a neighborhood meeting, and the kids also shout down the school board at one meeting. Meantime, the principal -- a white man in a nearly all-black school -- proves himself to be a fearless leader.
The film is so assured and invigorating that you can't help but be enchanted and filled with hope as the campaign goes on, eventually ending up before the Illinois Supreme Court. No matter how this turns out (it helps not to know the outcome going in), your heart most certainly will swell with admiration for this grass-roots effort. It helps when Chance the Rapper shows up to champion the cause.
The main complaint here is that Shaw is in too much of a hurry to tell this story in 87 minutes. At times, images -- of Malcolm X quotes and other slogans -- fly by too quickly to be absorbed. It need not be so kinetic. Otherwise, this is storytelling that should bring a tear to your eye.
THE TORCH (C+) - This an interesting but non-essential visit with blues icon Buddy Guy, whose Legends nightclub has anchored Chicago's South Loop since the 1990s. It is an unfortunate melding of two stories that drags out over close to two hours.
One story is the history of Guy, who is the main remaining link to the original bluesmen, like Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Guy is a fun storyteller, and he can be both rambling and engaging as he spins out memories for the camera. He also can still wield a mean guitar.
The other story involves Guy passing "the torch" to a new generation, mainly Quinn Sullivan, who was a child prodigy before he turned 10 and is now in his 20s. Sullivan has incredible technical skills but none of the soul that emanates from Guy. Too much of the film is devoted to Sullivan and songwriter Tom Hambridge, a key collaborator of both blues guitarists. Anyone who is not Buddy Guy in this movie is only marginally interesting, and that includes Carlos Santana, Jonny Lang and Susan Tedeshi. The film has a hint of White Savior complex.
Not only was it completed before COVID hit, but it also was shot over an extended period of time, making it seem dated and at times lacking in continuity. Guy's music is great. He deserved his own documentary.
PREVIEW
And we are awaiting a wider/streaming release of "Punch 9 for Harold Washington," a chronicle of Chicago's beloved first black mayor:
BONUS TRACKS
Our title track, the Freddie King version:
Buddy Guy, from the '90s, with John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain." I always smile at his interpretation of the phrase "button down the hatch":
Buddy Guy with his former musical companion Junior Wells live from 1974:
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