What Happened, Miss Simone?

Nina Simone wanted to be a classical pianist. When the conservatory would not take her she began playing in nightclubs, where singing was the employer's condition. Then in the sixties she wrote political songs, lost the concert halls at the most productive point of her career, left America and disappeared for years. The subject is not the music but an artist paying for her political position in cash. Simone wrote the songs the record companies did not want from her and saw the consequences directly at the box office. The documentary sets out that account without decoration. The form rests on two sources: concert footage and Simone's own diaries. The diaries are read aloud, and the distance between the woman on stage and the woman writing is the film's most uncomfortable element. It was made with the family's approval and her daughter Lisa Simone Kelly is an executive producer. Even so the film does not cover the violence in Simone's home or her treatment of her own daughter; Lisa recounts it herself on camera. That is not a common honesty in authorised documentaries. Liz Garbus directs. It was released on Netflix in 2015 and nominated for an Oscar. Who it is for: viewers interested in music documentary and the civil rights era. Who it is not for: anyone who only wants to listen; the weight of the film sits on the life.