Since February is Black History month, it’s only fitting that you watch Black Power Mixtape if you have the chance. Although slow-moving at times, the film is an extremely gripping reminder of what life was like from 1967 to 1975 for African Americans during the Black Power Movement. This documentary focuses on a diverse group of black individuals, retelling the struggles they had to overcome during this tense time.  What’s especially interesting is that Black Power Mixtape is ultimately a foreigner’s insight on life in America during a rough period; a group of Swedish jounalists wield the camera. These journalists interview African American radicals who urge people to make major lifestyle changes, and one of the film’s greatest assets is that the focus is on a range of important figures during this era, not solely on Martin Luther King Jr.

The opening scene explicitly deals with black power, as espoused by Stokely Carmichael. Carmichael was a black power advocate who condoned the use of violence when required. The documentary begins with a collection of old-fashioned film spread out over a large white table. The audience is at once arrested by the vast amount of work required to create such an elaborate film. 

Black Power Mixtape is remarkable for its deft imagery. The recurrence of American flags, the perennial symbol of freedom, doesn’t just remind us of a cherished national value. Instead, the motif compels us to question why this value should be so important.

The scene shifts to a beach near Sweden, where the audience sees the tranquil life of the Swedish journalists. Their lifestyle couldn’t contrast more greatly with that of the African Americans at the time.  

Although the opening scene does a good job of setting the context of the story, it was far from the most memorable. Emotions run high when a Swedish journalist interviews Carmichael’s mother, Mable. Mable is reluctant to share her stories, until Carmichael walks her through his father’s stories of racism. Mable’s intense nervousness testifies powerfully to the overwhelming distress African Americans experienced on a daily basis because of their skin color.

Arguably, the documentary’s greatest strength is that it doesn’t feature actors, but showcases the lives of ordinary people who are perhaps a little more than ordinary. Each interviewee has a different story to share, keeping the audience entertained and informed on so many levels. What was particularly interesting to me, was the fact that the speaker's face is never actually shown creating a feeling of difference. This is crucial to the film’s meaning. Are we supposed to avoid judging the speakers by their appearance? 

The cinematography is excellent. It is hard to compare the quality of this black-and-white film to a recent movie like Avatar, but the way Göran Olsson captures the footage is no less stunning. Every location is an integral piece of the puzzle, revealing surprising details about the meaning of struggle. And yet, although the clips are so diverse, they make up a cohesive unit that meaningfully reinterprets  the past. 

Black Power Mixtape makes very few conclusions, if it does reveal are any clear ones at all. For those who were unable to witness this part of history, it is a must see. Real stories and visuals are things a textbook cannot provide. It leaves the audience pondering why things have changed, and how they managed to change so drastically in such a short period of time. It would probably be unimaginable for many of the show’s interviewees to envision that an African American president could come to power so soon. People have become more accepting and racially tolerant; and now they might even be envious of people of a different race. America has always been a melting pot, yet now it is a melting pot where everything in it has value and a place of comfort. Maybe the world really is changing for the better.