What Happened, Miss Simone?

Hey, Mr. Schroeder. Remember me? I was in your music class and band in middle school. I was always very good at that game with the class where we guess the song played, or at least my mom tells me that you're still impressed with me about that. Well, suffice to say, I may have gotten even more musically inclined (in that I've listened to so much more music than I've ever blinked), but that's a story for a different time. For now, I've been assigned a writing assignment (this blog post) in which I have to write to you and you have to respond back. So, being a music teacher and musically inclined, and my class pertaining to Netflix, I decided to watch something musical and educational, so a documentary was the obvious answer. That led me to What Happened, Miss Simone?

What Happened, Miss Simone? is, as you could probably tell from the title, a documentary on the life and legend of acclaimed jazz musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone. It details her life from childhood, where she learned to play piano, to her stardom and activism in civil rights in the 60's, to her downfall and resurgence, and all in between. ALL in between. A great chunk of this documentary about Nina's battles with her personal demons and their effect on her family, friends, and career. Things like been stressed out with having to perform, being away from home from her daughter, and some other reasons I don't want to spoil because A. it's shocking and a bigger gut punch if you don't previously know about it, and B. it's quite depressing and I really don't wanna type it out. In fact, a lot of this documentary will have you feeling melancholic because, as I said, it showcases her personal demons. Granted, there are happy moments and even a (relatively) happy ending, but a lot of it is very hard to stomach emotionally. Another fair warning, halfway into it it starts getting quite political in an extreme sense (as she was heavily influenced by people like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael), so depending on where you stand with the issues of nonviolent vs. violent protests, it may be a bit uncomfortable to watch.

On the whole though, this was one of the most emotionally moving films I've ever seen, let alone documentaries. I had previously listened to Miss Simone's music in the past, but I never knew about her backstory and her life and her struggles. But now that I do know, I think her music is gonna be VERY different the next time I listen to it. Now, I don't know if you've listened to Nina Simone before (though I wouldn't doubt that you have), but I may recommend listening to some of her songs BEFORE watching the film. When you get the meaning behind them from the film, the songs become much more (and if it helps, the film also splices in some live performances too, albeit with commentary over it). So, in summary, this was a very great and very emotional film, and being the music guy you are, I'd suggest watching this as soon as possible.