I’ve never taken boxing promoter Don King too seriously as a self-proclaimed Republican. The new documentary Soul Power changes my mind. The film follows a pretty-much-forgotten music festival held in Zaire shortly before the 1974 heavyweight bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The show was an amazing mix of American, African and Caribbean artists. (The Congolese band OK Jazz steals the film as early prog heroes and new-wave rockers.) The story is also told in a refreshingly direct fashion. Nobody’s trying to structure a narrative. There’s simply interesting footage of legendary performers (and busy promoters) putting on a great show.

There are still two fine political moments. One has King and fellow Republican James Brown discussing the importance of capitalism in liberating a minority—in this case, black men named Don King and James Brown. The longer scene starts with Ali saying hello to Stokely Carmichael, and admonishing him not to burn down anything in Zaire. (Carmichael’s wife, Miriam Makeba, performs in the concert.) Ali then gets going on a rant about how he’s never been a free man in white America.

A black gentleman sitting next to King disagrees. He declares that Muhammad Ali is a free man, Sammy Davis, Jr. is a free man, and then he declares himself to be a free man. King is nodding approvingly. Ali seems to concede the point. He jokes that he’s being contradicted by a dishwasher. Actually, I’m pretty sure Ali is being contradicted by his longtime aide Drew Bundini Brown. Say what you will about Ali, but he obviously didn’t surround himself with yes-men.

(Bundini, incidentally, wrote the “float like a butterfly” poem for Ali. The others—much to the distress of white liberals—were written by this guy.)

There’s also a sad political moment. After watching African-American musicians discussing the great glory of returning to their African roots, the festival begins with the crowd paying tribute to a giant poster of Mobutu Sese Seko. (It’s true that Zaire’s dictator didn’t like Commies, but he sure liked nationalization.) At one point in the film, Ali declares that America only lets him speak out for the poor because he’s the greatest fighter in the world. He doesn’t understand that’s the same reason Zaire is letting him speak about anything.

And I might as well finish by noting that Stokely Carmichael and his wife were then living in Guinea, where they were friends with President Touré. That’s why they were never ended up in a detention camp.

 

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