January 31, 2018 The Skanner Page 7
FILM REVIEW: Reverential Biopic ‘Mama Africa:
Miriam Makeba’ Chronicles Rise, Fall and
Triumphant Return of Singer/Activist
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
Former Minnesota Supreme Court
Justice and NFL hall of famer puts
relics on display at Minnesota
library
Z
enzile
Miriam
Makeba had the
misfortune of be-
ing born Black in
Johannesburg,
South
Africa in 1932, which
relegated her to sec-
ond-class
citizenship.
In fact, she spent the
first six months of her
life behind bars with
her mother, a sangoma
(witch doctor), sent to
prison days just after
her birth.
Luckily, her mom was
also an amateur singer,
and that was a gift Mir-
iam inherited. She mar-
ried at 17 and had a child
a year later, but was
soon abandoned by her
abusive husband. So, she
started singing profes-
sionally to support her
young daughter.
After performing and
recording with sever-
al different bands, she
found a measure of fame
as the lead singer of an
all-girl group called The
Skylarks. Then, while
on tour out of the coun-
try in 1959, Miriam’s
passport was revoked
after the release in Italy
of “Come Back, Africa,”
a secretly-filmed, an-
ti-apartheid docudrama
in which she appeared.
Despite the ban, Miri-
am’s career would catch
fire while in exile, with
the help of such influen-
tial entertainers as Har-
ry Belafonte and Sidney
Poitier. Soon, interna-
tional audiences were
appreciating her unique
sound, an eclectic mix of
jazz, pop and traditional
African tunes.
Review
By Steve Karnowski
Associated Press
‘Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba’
But because of the con-
tinued civil strife back
in her homeland, Mir-
iam used her platform
to criticize the South
African government. In
1963, she even testified
at the United Nations,
imploring the organiza-
tion to impose economic
sanctions on the coun-
try for its imprisonment
of attorney Nelson Man-
dela and thousands of
other political activists
lobbying for equality.
However,
Miriam
would fall out of favor
in 1968 after marrying
Stokely Carmichael, the
controversial leader of
the Black Power move-
ment. For she made
many powerful enemies
in the U.S. by virtue of
that union.
After all, it was one
thing to point out all the
injustice in her native
South Africa, but quite
another to complain
about the mistreatment
of African Americans.
Almost overnight, Mir-
iam’s concerts were
canceled and her re-
cords were pulled off the
shelves, too.
Hounded by the FBI
and her career ru-
ined, she abandoned
the States with Stokely
for Guinea, but would
have to wait for the fall
of the Apartheid re-
gime to be welcomed
home with open arms
by outlawed freedom
fighter-turned-Presi-
dent Nelson Mandela. A
fitting tribute to a rare
talent who dedicated
her life to the liberation
of oppressed people all
over the world.
Excellent HHHH
Unrated
Running time: 90 min.
In English and French
with subtitles
Production Studios:
Starhaus Filmproduk-
tion / Millennium Film /
Marianna Films
Kam Williams
Movie Previews at
Revealing
celebrity s
interview
Award
winning
movie crit
ic
NEW MOVIES OPENING EVERY WEEK!
cont’d from pg 6
in theaters, but at least
this one doesn’t attempt
to turn a felon into a
saint. Yes, the picture’s
well-cast and scripted,
yet it somehow adds up
to less than its parts.
Even for a former
world-class
athlete,
crime does not pay!
Very Good HH 1/2
Rated R for profanity,
drug use and some
violence
Running time: 140 min.
Production Studios: The
Mark Gordon Company
/ Pascal Pictures/ Huayi
Brothers Pictures
Distributor: STX Enter-
tainment
To see a trailer for Mol-
ly’s Game, visit TheSkan-
ner.com.
Arts & Entertainment
Alan Page Exhibits
Slavery and Segregation
Artifacts in Time for
Super Bowl
SHOWTIMES
ALL THE MONEY
IN THE WORLD (R)
Fri-Thur: 1:55, 7:05
DOWNSIZING (R)
Fri-Thur: 1:45, 9:25
COCO (PG)
Fri-Thur: 2:40, 7:20
WONDER (PG)
Fri-Thur: 11:20a, 4:55
MURDER ON THE ORIENT
EXPRESS (PG-13)
Fri-Thur: 4:40, 9:50
The Week of
Friday, Feb. 2 through
Thursday, Feb. 8
THOR: RAGNAROK (PG-13)
Fri-Thur: 12:00, 6:45
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (R)
Fri-Thur: 9:35
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
(PG)
Fri-Thur: 11:40, 4:30
$4.00 adults, $3.00 senior citizens (65+),
$3.00 for kids (12 & under)
7818 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97215
503-252-1707 • AcademyTheaterPdx.com
Babysitting: Children 2 to 8 years old. Fri: shows starting between 3:30 pm and 8 pm. Sat - Sun: shows starting
between 1 pm and 8 pm. $9.50 per child for the length of the movie. Call to reserve a spot, no drop ins.
MINNEAPOLIS — An
iron collar that kept
slaves in bondage. A
branding
iron
that
marked human beings
as someone’s property.
A photograph of Black
babies captioned as “alli-
gator bait.” A fine china
plate with gold lettering
that says, “KKK ‘God Give
Us Men.’”
They’re among the
artifacts of slavery and
segregation collected by
NFL Hall of Famer and
retired Minnesota Su-
preme Court Justice Alan
Page and his wife, Diane
Sims Page. They went
on display this month in
time for Super Bowl vis-
itors and the thousands
of other people expect-
ed to flock to downtown
Minneapolis for the
festivities. The exhibit,
“TESTIFY:
Americana
from Slavery to Today,”
runs through Feb. 6 at
the Minneapolis Central
Library.
While a sign at the en-
trance warns that some
items inside might be
disturbing, there are
also messages of hope
and promise. There’s a
banner that was held by
a mourner in 1865, when
a funeral train took Pres-
ident Abraham Lincoln’s
body home to Illinois.
The banner reads, “Our
Country Shall Be One
Country!” Page said it
moved him to tears when
he first saw it.
“For me it transports
me back to that time and
that place,” Alan Page
said.
Signs that once en-
forced segregation in the
South hang from a wall
down the center of the
gallery. They designated
restrooms as “white” or
“colored,” and marked
the “colored waiting
room” at train and bus
stations. Just across
from it is an assembly
of vibrant pictures by
Black artists, showing
how African Americans
reclaimed control over
their own narrative. Di-
ane Page said the con-
trast between the “op-
pressive and expressive”
is deliberate.
Alan Page, a feared
member of the Vikings’
Purple People Eaters de-
See EXHIBIT on page 9