Sundance London 2014 Review – Finding Fela (2014)

 More recently, Fela Kuti’s life was turned into a successful Broadway show which the documentary uses as a through line for the movie. It’s a credit to Gibney that he manages to use large portions of the show to help supply narrative for his film while never making Finding Fela feel like an expansive and long trailer for the Broadway musical. Instead Gibney uses Kuti’s narration in the show to back up the points made by those who knew and worked with him as if the sadly deceased Kuti was agreeing himself. With that said, at times the show looks like so much fun that you would rather be watching that instead.

 Fela Kuti led a very, very interesting life. This cannot be denied and it is a life that is worthy of a documentary. But there is a question as to whether those who are not familiar with his work will find any form of interest in Finding Fela. This is of course true of any documentary, but there are some subject matters and human stories that can transcend the limitations of pre-disposed knowledge. In that sense, Finding Fela doesn’t quite work. While there is fascination about him as a person, there isn’t enough drama or emotion to bring in non-Fela fans into his world. Even on a musical level, a language that speaks to everyone, Finding Fela doesn’t explore the effects Fela Kuti had on Nigeria and Afrobeat.

 But that’s not to say that Finding Fela is a bad documentary. Fela himself is so impossibly cool and all of the interviewees speak about him so passionately, that you do find yourself wanting to know more. As a whole, it certainly doesn’t succeed in creating new fans, but it does so a great job of telling a very interesting story about a very influential man.