Review of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) by Heyward — 25 Jul 2008

I've done a full 180 on this film. the first time I saw it I loathed it, but am not too proud to admit how wrong I was! this was one of the first black power films but van peebles real achievement is the rejection of a white colonialist language of cinema and by teaching himself film form creates a film which is rooted within the black community of 1970.

ssbs remind one today of those idealistic days when artists thought they could change the world through cinema.