Baadasssss!

Melvin Van Peebles stunned the world with his making of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. A film that was turned down by every major studio including Columbia, where he had a three-picture deal, Melvin was forced to basically self-finance. Risking everything he had Melvin delivered to the world the first Black Ghetto hero on the big screen. More than 30 years later, history is being fashioned again in the telling of this very tale. In the movie "Badassss", Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his father. Mario tells the story of the making of Melvin Van Peebles' landmark 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, including Melvin's struggles to raise money to fund the film under the guise of creating a black porno film. Melvin had ducked creditors, the unions and had to bail out his camera crew after they were arrested because a white cop decided a bunch of Negroes and hippies couldn't have come by that camera equipment honestly. Despite death threats and temporarily losing sight in one eye, Melvin somehow finished the film. The same film that would give birth to birth of a new era which was about to explode, the Blackxploitation era. 

The basic concept of the film works out like a documentary because Van Peebles takes us from the pre-production all the way up to the premiere and in between for a very exciting ride.This has been seen in countless films before but viewers are seeing it for the first time because we actually get to see . Melvin Van Peebles was very upset about how African Americans were being portrayed in films during that time, so he set out to make a film where the black man, fought back being seen as a hero, and got away with it. Mario shows a deep sense of love and respect for his father's achievement. 

But Mario definitely doesn't sugarcoat his depiction of Melvin. Some very serious issues dealing with his father's anger, cheating other cruel things are brought up. The Melvin we see in this film is a driven, obsessive man who loves his friends and family deeply, but won't let anything or anyone stop his film, including the weekend jailing of his crew. Mario's reluctance about being forced to be in a "sex scene" in his dad's movie is one of the film's highlights.Those scenes between the father and son are very touching, honest and interesting to view because we know they're real and it's all the more interesting seeing the director of this film work out problems on camera that he had with his father. 

Another interesting thing the film tackles is why Melvin wanted to create an independent film when he had offers from major studios. Black people in American movies were always used as comic relief, usually appearing on screen bug eyed and telling silly one-liners.The film has some wonderful flashback scenes where we see these stereotypes being played out in a theater with the white children laughing at them and the black children hiding their head in shame because they know what they're seeing on screen isn't how black people really act.

Mario Van Peebles, the actor, turns in the greatest performance of his career and easily one of the greatest performances I've seen in quite some time. I'm sure he knows his father inside and out, but sometimes  it's not easy playing someone you know or playing yourself. Van Peebles does a brilliant job at showing off various emotions and the scenes where he has to rally his crew is full of such monumental force that you can help but get pumped up. The best scene in the movie involves the father falling on the ground only to have his young son come to his help.

Baadasssss! is a beautiful love story from a son to his father but thankfully Mario doesn't hide anything and instead gives a film, which certainly looks and feels like the truth. In the film Melvin is shown as a hero for starting the Blaxploitation genre but the film never hides the fact that he did a lot of bad things and certainly shows the bad things he did to his kids. This movie took a lot of motivation and determination to make and it took even more by showing things how they really were. He said f-you to everyone who told him he couldn't live out his dream on his terms. This man did not take no for an answer. He bucked Hollywood, the machine, whatever.This movie was mind-blowing and very inspirational. Melvin Van Peeble's drive as well As Mario's was unbelievable. I recommend that audiences this film to learn about the true story subject, see it to get some courage to do something you are being told you cant do and also just see it you will be be glad you did Baadasssss! is a one-of-a-kind film.