Review of Something the Lord Made (2004) by Stuart M — 23 Sep 2017

A reasonably good biopic. The chief difficulty here is that, like a lot of genius biopics, it's very hard to express exactly what's being done without either sounding patronizing or incomprehensible.

Fortunately, the main conflict in the film is the racial one between Mos Def and Alan Rickman. It's a complicated one since Rickman is both champion and oppressor, sticking up for Mos Def whenever anyone questions his right to be there yet also willing to take sole credit for his achievements.

Mos Def handles it far better than I could imagine doing, with a dignity and restraint that's hard to credit. But he sells it well. I wouldn't call this a revolutionary film, but it's well made and gets the point across.