FILM

Sweden 2011 96 mins Dir: Goran Hugo Olsson

A necessarily rather scrappy documentary whose natural home is on TV rather than in the cinema, 'Black Power Mixtape' is compiled from footage that reportedly languished in a cellar at the Swedish television archives for nearly three decades. Quite why Swedish TV was seemingly so obsessed with the US black power movement remains a mystery, but the broadcasters' reverential and largely uncritical approach so infuriated the American government that they temporarily cut off diplomatic relations in 1972.

Director Goran Olsson presents the material in chronological chapters, with voiceover contributions from modern commentators and, occasionally, the surviving activists themselves, exploring how the struggle against racism has changed over the intervening years. Despite the claims made on its behalf, much of the footage isn't particularly interesting - with two exceptions. There's some great early film of the charismatic Stokely Carmichael, who playfully grabs the microphone to interview his elderly mum, Mabel. Later, the Swedes bagged exclusive footage of Angela Davis behind bars in California State Prison.

An opening caption is careful to point out that this is no definitive account of the movement, but there's a worrying lack of serious analysis. Controversial and fiery Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is given a particularly easy ride. Amusingly, he seems just as exercised by the humble porker ("the filthy swine… that ugly creature!") as he is by whitey ("a race of devils"). The film is, however, a treat for connoisseurs of 70s tonsorial fashions, from Davis's amazing afro to the white lawyers' beards and extravagant comb-overs. Watch out too for an amusing sequence where Swedish tourists are taken on a guided bus ride through the wilds of Harlem like nervous punters driving through the lion enclosure at a safari park. (Robin Askew)

website www.story.se/films/the-mixtape96/

Opens Fri 21 Oct

Copyright Robin Askew 2011