What Happened, Miss Simone?

The telling of Nina's story through the words of her family and old footage from her as well is truly moving and unsettling. I felt the closing in of the events that lead to her fame, fall, and fatality. It seems as if everyone was affected by the power of her illness which was fueled by the times. I am not sure if one accelerated the other. Growing up in the south and traveling all over the world does something to you. You become enlightened and the junk that was going on in the US over race was ludicrous and enraging. I am not sure if I could deal with that back then either. Nina was truly ahead of her time but got stuck in time due to the violence of those times. I love the way she expressed her disdain for the instrument of her fame and I also loved the attitude she had about her own voice. I grew up listening to this strange voice and at first I could not figure out if it was a man or woman until further into the album. This documentary is a timely tribute to the singer and it also allowed us to see what she was going through and why she fell off the face of the earth for a while. I look at her from a different pair of eyes now and I am grateful to know her story.

Nina Simone is a national treasure. Don't lump her together with the Arethas, the Donnas, the Esthers; she was a soul singer of tremendous originality and personality. She didn't have to enthusiastically remind a man to r-e-s-p-e-c-t her, to rely on anybody besides herself to let her potent baritone shake the bodies of the public — whether a song she shared with the world was written by a pop professional or her and herself alone, Simone's voice never allowed, and still doesn't allow, for casual listening. You want to jump up and find a pair of expensive soundproof headphones just so you can absorb the stealth of her voice and her Baby Grand. Nothing can compare.

"What Happened, Miss Simone?", directed by documentarian Liz Garbus, captures everything most adored about Simone and the things that made her a particularly flawed human. There are plenty of moments left for us to sit back and let chills creep up our arm through astonishing concert footage, but there are also moments that let it be known that Simone, though a national treasure, was a woman continuously suffering with inner demons left untouched throughout most of her career.

New aspects of her complicated life are brought to us through several interviews, mostly with her daughter (who drops a bomb by informing us that after the dissolution of Simone's marriage to her father did she become an abusive wrecking ball). The film goes all the way back to Simone's lonely childhood, in which she dedicated most of her time to her demanding classical piano career, to her final years as a performer. What happened in- between is much more compelling than I ever expected; I knew that Simone began as a crooner in the diva category, eventually turning her attention to Civil Rights (as evidenced by remarkable songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" and "Strange Fruit"), but I didn't realize how much she suffered in her life. She was an undiagnosed manic depressive for the majority of her career. Her husband/manager hit her on a regular basis. She almost faded into homelessness after her mental disorders completely took over in the 1970s.

"What Happened, Miss Simone" is such a good documentary because it as much idolizes Simone as it does sees her at a ground level; some documentaries view their subject as a star, never slowing down to cover the details that might make them look bad. But Garbus' knack for balancing wonder with sorrow (highs and lows are at the most shattering during Simone's performance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival and her daughter's admission that she was suicidal because of Simone's abuse as a teenager) is supreme, making for a well-rounded doc both informational and unglamorous. It represents Simone for who she really was, and though I would prefer a potential feature length, perhaps focusing on a particularly harrowing point in her life, "What Happened, Miss Simone" goes over everything we could ever want to know about Simone. There's just a feeling of unplaceable skimpiness, as though Garbus wanted to make an on screen biography, paying more attention to some things than others. But I can hardly complain — I liked Simone then, and I like her even more now. Presently, however, I feel like I understand her. No longer can I listen to my favorite Simone LP, "Pastel Blues", in the same way.

Nina Simone was an extraordinary artist, a singer with an amazing, androgynous voice, a pianist from the age of four, a master of many styles (yet each one made distinctively her own), and a performer who put an amazing amount of herself into every song she sang. But she was also a frequently unhappy woman, a sufferer from manic depression, and while she was involved in the struggle for black civil rights in the United States, she did not allow herself the indulgence of viewing the outcome of that fight with satisfaction. 'What Happened, Miss Simone?' tells the story of her life and career with songs, comments from friends, and extensive excerpts from interviews she gave. It's fascinating, but also overlong, and while many assert the Nina was a difficult woman, few actually describe the reality of living with her in detail, which is a bit frustrating: she was a private person when not on stage, and the frailties hinted at in her public performances are never completely explained. You finish this documentary wanting to know more; but also, perhaps, feeling you could have been told what you've just learnt in a little less time.

Two of the 2015 Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature dealt with artists (specifically singers) who were ultimately undone by their self-destructive tendencies. "Amy" told the sad story of Amy Winehouse, whose struggles with addiction and eating disorders cut her life and career tragically short. "What Happened, Miss Simone?" is about Nina Simone, who used her music to fuel the anger of the civil rights movement until her flame burnt out. Both women changed the nature of their art form; both women were taken from the world much too soon.

But for all the similarities, the stories of the two women are quite different. Amy Winehouse is a pathetic figure. We watch as she passively lets fame destroy her. Nina Simone, on the other hand, is full of rage, rage that vents itself through her music. If Winehouse lets strife happen to her, we get the sense that Simone brings it on herself. It's as if she can't handle the anger that a sense of injustice toward the world stokes inside her and destroys herself as a way to be rid of it.

Watching Simone sing "Mississippi Goddamn" while seeing images of the Civil Rights movement, images evocative of the recent violence toward blacks perpetrated by law enforcement officials throughout the country, brought home to me how far we still need to go in our efforts toward racial equality and why the slogan "Black Lives Matter" should be heeded by all.

Grade: A-

I've got to be up front about this...I don't remember hearing anything about Nina Simone before I watched this film. While she was a very famous jazz performer, her meteoric career all but fizzled by the time I was a very young child. I also am not a particular fan of modern jazz, either. So in some ways, I am not the ideal audience for this wonderful new documentary from Liz Garbus. However, because of my work in the mental health field, the film really resonated with me and I think you should give it a look as well. Apparently, Netflix ALSO thinks you should be watching it, as they send out a mass emailing to many people recommending you see this new film--which you now can thanks to their streaming service.

Nina was a child prodigy at the piano. However this was back in the 1930s...and she was a tiny black girl growing up in the South. Yet despite the racially charged climate, she had a spark of genius-- such that despite the times, she was helped by people to help realize her dream of being a musician. However, instead of the concert classical pianist she was trained to be, she sort of accidentally fell into the jazz industry and was soon known at least as much as her singing as her genius at the piano. This led to a lot of financial success in the 1950s and into the 60s and life was looking grand for this lady.

So how, then, at the height of her fame did Simone's career start to slip? And why did she walk away from this life? This confusing journey about mental illness, to me, is the most interesting part of this documentary. While it's not perfect (a lot of her more bizarre behaviors later in life are omitted from the story as well as her second marriage), the film is extremely rare in quality and is extremely well made. Considering that Simone died from cancer over a decade ago, this should have been a very tough film to make. Yet, fortunately, they had recordings and diaries of Simone speaking her mind and explaining her strange journey through life. Garbus also was fortunate to have Simone's daughter's cooperation as well as her first husband and friends--giving you amazing access into Simone's world as well as into her mental illness that impacted but never destroyed her career. This sort of access alone is more than enough reason to see this film.

By the way, if you like this film, also trying watching another great Garbus documentary, Bobby Fischer Against the World. The character in this film is, in many ways, much like Simone--with lots of brilliance as well as lots of personal demons.