Wattstax is the 1973 documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current day Watts neighborhood. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film.
A recording of a historic moment, Wattstax has considerable value.
– John Hartl,
Seattle Times,
6 Jun 2003
fresh:
A candid, colorful and deeply meaningful sociocultural time capsule.
– Ann Hornaday,
Washington Post,
6 Jun 2003
rotten:
It just has the air of something too carefully laid out in advance. It's so busy being glossy and optimistic that it doesn't even allow its performers time to create on screen a measure of the excitement they might have created in person.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
7 Jun 2003
fresh:
A time when not only a single record company could put together a day like this, but could then give every dollar made to charity.
– Stephen Whitty,
Newark Star-Ledger,
13 Jun 2003
fresh:
The restored rerelease is a time capsule of Afros, anger and attitude.