George C. Wolfe's film of August Wilson's play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a modest success. Wolfe has mode forays into television and film work before, but is chiefly known as one of the American theater's most distinguished directors. Unfortunately, this does not mean that he is naturally gifted in a largely visual medium. In the film, whenever action is occurring, particularly the violence and sex, Wolfe interjects some quick cutting and frenzied movements. The intended effect is to evoke the passions of the characters, but the results are a jumble.
Happily, Wolfe is on firmer ground when directing his players as opposed to filling the screen. The ensemble performances of Ma's band are superb and moving. Wilson is most gifted at delving into the concurrent camaraderie and rivalry of Afro-American males through their banter. This the film nails and since these interactions are the meat of the work, the end result is more than passable as entertainment. The music is sterling and since music is central to Wilson's thematic concerns, it greatly contributes to the success of the project.
In Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, August Wilson portrays the decline of country blues or, as it is slightingly referred to within the play, jug band blues. Ma represents this dying genre while the character of Levee represents the burgeoning urban genres of up tempo blues and syncopated jazz. In a prologue added to the film, screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson shows Ma performing at a tent show in the south. Then, a PBS style montage chronicles the migration of Afro Americans from the South to the urban centers of the Midwest and Northeast. At the end of which we see Ma's band arrive for their fateful session in Chicago.
Ma and Levee spar over which version of the title tune they will record. Ma upholds her tradition even if it means she will fade into obscurity. Wilson romanticizes Ma a bit, but as a devotee of her music and that of her compatriots, I sympathize. I would urge any fans of 20th century American music to listen to the works of Ma, Bessie Smith, the Memphis Jug Band or the Mississippi Sheiks. The result will be both rewarding and fun. I first got into jug band blues through Laurie Bird's shrill, but endearing version of "Stealin, Stealin" in Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop which I saw in the late 70s. My lid really flipped when I heard the genuine article. Viola Davis is much too handsome to play Ma, but has enough sweat sprayed on her, kohl smeared round her eyes and actorly skill to play the raunchy and dissipated diva. She is a ferocious delight whether sucking on a Coke bottle or haranguing her manager.
Chadwick Boseman is Levee and his presence throws the film out of whack for both good and ill. There is an air of valedictory poignancy about his performance that tilts the film towards his character's favor. Wilson's Levee is a not uncritical take on the aggressive Afro-American male of the Twentieth century in opposition to his supposedly more servile Southern forebears. Levee also represents the gangster strain in Afro-American music which stretches from Stagger Lee to Suge Knight and beyond. Boseman ably channels his character's damaged psyche (he is literally scarred across the chest) and youthful vitality. However, I think his dynamic performance makes Ma's character a supporting player in her own movie. A similar thing occurred when Marlon Brando's performance of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire eclipsed that of Jessica Tandy's Blanche. Tennessee Williams' intentions were altered, but not, as even he admitted, necessarily negatively.
Mr. Santiago-Houston adds an effective coda to the play wherein a white, Paul Whitman type orchestra blandly plays the doomed Levee's composition, "Jelly Roll" (and I hope you know what this is a euphemism for). Another lineage is invoked, this time ironically, which has bequeathed such embarrassments as Pat Boone and Vanilla Ice. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is not an unqualified success, but it conveys enough of the power of Wilson's ideas and vision to make it compelling viewing.
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