Tupac: Resurrection

This documentary of Tupac Amaru Shakur's life was amazing. I am a huge Tupac fan and have seen many other stories and and biographies of his life, but this movie by far surpassed any expectations I had about it. Even if you are not a Tupac fan; you will still be amazed at the life he lived, grew up with, and his legacy. One of the film's strong parts is the fact that it really explains Tupac's mind and how he though about life. Not only that, but many people have a misconception that Tupac Shakur was just a "gangstar" that ran the streets and made music; and this film shows that he was not all bad and that he had a more sensitive side to his life and music. Overall the film captured a lot of his life through his eyes. The film isnt about his friends and family getting interviewed and recalling facts.....It's real interviews of him in the studio, in court, on MTV, personal interviews, and live accounts of him being him.

It's about time that a documentary about slain rapper Tupac Shakur such as this be released. I've seen a number of other documentaries based on the Shakur's life and they make me sick. For one thing, those films make him out to be some sort of prophet or messiah, feeding into the myth that that's exactly who he was. However, by allowing Tupac to tell his own story, both his fans and detractors alike can finally get a glimpse of who this man truly was as a person. In this film, from Tupac's very own words, Tupac is not made out to be the monster that some people would like to easily dismiss him as but but he is also not portrayed as a saint, nor are his many troubles with the law ignored. From this movie, the clear conclusion is that Tupac Shakur was ultimately a good, well-meaning person whose flawed philosophies and poor choices in the people he chose to surround himself with ultimately lead to his destruction. However, through tenacity and hard work, he has become the bestselling hip hop artist in history, even from beyond the grave.

Documentaries, more than scripted movies, have to be about a topic you're interested in and/or people you're interested in. As much as I love documentaries, if there was a documentary about cabinet making or Kim Kardashian, I'm not wasting my time (though I'd choose cabinet making over KK anyday). So, you'd have to have at least a passing interest in Tupac to watch "Tupac: Resurrection." As for me, I was in high school and fully immersed in hip-hop when Tupac was at his zenith, so I have more than a passing interest in Tupac.

"Resurrection" pulls the curtain back. More than simply going into place of origin, important people, and important events, it goes deeper into who Tupac was in his own words. And as much as he was a controversial figure with some unflattering tendencies, he was fairly conscious. Some of that consciousness showed in songs such as "Brenda's Got a Baby," "Dear Mama," and "Keep Your Head Up." And at the same time his baser side is displayed in too many of his other songs which only means he was a flawed human being like we all are.

Unless you're a super Pac fan or a Tupac historian, "Resurrection" will give you some new information about Tupac you never knew, it will clarify things you were misinformed about, and the rest will be a refresher and a means to hear Tupac once more.

One never knows what to expect out of rock films. Going into Tupac: Resurrection, I half expected another mediocre blaxploitation groaner. The other half expected a gushy MTVish drool-fest out to promote the soundtrack artists, including current corporate media darling 50 Cent.

Resurrection is neither. The producer is not some slick Hollywood mogul with no understanding of rap except as a source for making a quick buck. Instead, Afeni Shakur, the late rapper's mother, takes charge. As both executive producer and the dominant force in her son's short life, her personal agenda impacts every frame. Like all documentaries, this is an extremely one-sided account, and it is likely due to her input that the movie downplays the darker aspects of Pac's self-destructive downward spiral after his move to Death Row Records. Nor is the film harsh enough on Tupac's seemingly endless capacity for paranoia and irresponsibility.

Fortunately, she also makes the crucial decision not to dwell on more tired hash-rehash of so called East Coast/West Coast rap war, which the movie clarifies as less of a reality than a media event. Nor does it choose to linger on the numerous rumors and conspiracies surrounding Tupac's murder.

Shakur and director Lauren Lazin wisely decide to let Tupac's voice carry the film. Lazin wisely refrains from using the masterful, propagandistic gimmicks of a Michael Moore documentary. There are no distracting interviews or massively-edited montages. As a result, the movie has a lyrical, sacred tone. History has mystified Pac as a martyr for West Coast gangsta rap, although during his lifetime he only released one such album. Few choose to remember that Death Row was the twilight of his life, that he spent the first half-decade of his career recording in the East where he grew up. It is here that the film takes its cue.

Resurrection lays bare a magnetic, arrogant, charismatic spirit that immediately affirms why Pac remains one of rap's only true megastars. Though the film is not hard enough on how his growing obstinacy may have hastened his demise, it does not shy away from the controversy, the premonitions of death, the sex abuse conviction, and the inflated ego. The result is a well-drawn sketch of man aware of his genius but haunted by demons, a tortured soul navigating a realm more thuggish than he was at his core, a contradiction which plays as a general commentary on rap's manufactured images.

This movie's production value alone easily outclasses nearly every other cinematic work that has ever pretended to be about hip-hop. It bears little resemblance to How High or Belly or to the shameless self-promotion of the vanity project 8 Mile, which was so sanitized as to kill any revelations it might have made about its star Eminem, the most high profile rapper to yet arise. I don't understand how someone could praise 8 Mile for its beauty and honesty (it isn't) and then criticize this film.

By contrast, the sincerity of Resurrection solidifies Pac's reputation as `the only rapper that matters.' It shows why he is peerless and maybe the greatest artist the genre has yet produced: whatever can be said about his music, as an intelligent personality there is simply no one else in his class. He is so much more painfully relevant than all star rappers, and the sharpness of his observations on everything from politics to poverty leaves dust in the eyes of all his contemporaries. He represents a paradigm that has become all-too-rare in a musical form now dominated by cartoon images: a constructive rather than destructive point-of-view.

A ball of contradictions, Tupac is finally much more complex and brilliant than most people would expect. People are uninformed and uninterested in hip-hop probably will get little out of this movie. Those who know will realize that the biggest tragedy is that not that Tupac died before reaching his full potential, but that other young black men with similar sensibilities rarely reach his level of visibility. 9.5/10.

This is a very good documentary .. it gave me an inside closer look to a world I don't know much of. I've heard some stories about Tupac .. some myths too in my high school but I wasn't 100% convinced and sounded just like lies.

I'm not a big fan of rap. I heard some songs of Tupac, though. I don't remember his songs but I remember that I didn't like them due to the foul language with all the swearing and the excessive use of the "F" WORD!.

Anyway, that didn't mean that his life story wasn't interesting .. the movie showed me briefly the life of a controversial young man who's music was popular in many places of the world .. I'm amazed of how frank Tupac is and that he has such courage to tell his stories publicly.

Good documentary..entertaining, brief and goes right to the point!