Subject: Musician Fela Kuti and and his struggles with the Nigerian government
Directors: Jean Jaques Flori, Stephane Tchalgadjieff
There are people in history who, if they hadn't actually existed, we would've felt the need to invent them. Sure, their actions are singular in this world, but they happened to be in the right time and place to capitalize on it. In other possible worlds, their existence is unknown to us.
Fela Kuti is not historically necessary, which is what makes him so interesting. Defying the Nigerian government, he plays his music all night at a club while living in an ill-constructed compound with many wives. As talented a musician as he is, it would have been easy for him to merely play music that people liked, but he chose to sing about the wrongs that he and other Africans face on a daily basis.
The documentary gets some great behind-the-scenes stuff, but lags in places - thankfully it's only an hour long.
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