Film - Respect

I’ve anticipated Respect as much for Aretha as I have for Jennifer Hudson who plays her. Ever since she popped up on Dream Girls, which I saw on its Christmas day release date in New York to helping perk up the pretty terrible first Sex at The City film and then bringing out the song of the year in 2008, Spotlight, I have followed Jennifer Hudson’s career. 

It is no wonder Aretha chose Jennifer Hudson to play her.

I knew for sure they’d be some sad moments in Respect. Considering her age, we know Aretha lived through the civil rights era. Her involvement has been well documented all the way through to performing at Obama’s inauguration, which I deemed to be the completed circle of the civil rights movement - how wrong I was.

Anyway, those weren’t the scenes that had me burst into tears. They came later. 

Respect opens with her loving mum visiting, not living in their home so we know something has gone with the parent’s marriage.  We are left to fill in the blanks as we watch moments of abuse, manipulation and violence against the child that would become the undisputed Queen of Soul. As an influential churchman, her dad has given his children a middle-class upbringing with family friends dropping by, including Martin Luther King. We see 10-year-old ‘Re’ has the ‘voice of a 30-year-old’ as she entertains at regular family parties.

I would like to see one film about a Black woman who doesn’t get abused or manipulated. Just one. In films and books, I see one Black woman after another who comes across as strong and in control of their life only to find behind the scenes that isn’t the case. Or at least it wasn’t. I realise following Miss Franklin’s story from her childhood to the point of when she started making the music she wanted to make (after nine albums, wow), that she became stronger because of those experiences. Unsurprisingly, most of the men do not come off well in this film. In fact, I’m surprised when one pops up that is respectful towards women.

I loved the scenes in the studio putting songs together around the piano and the performances. I also loved seeing Mary J Blige putting in an appearance (as Dinah Washington) because I love seeing her doing anything.

I found myself swallowed up with emotion during the opening bars of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, much more than when I hear it on the radio. It was the most played track from my Aretha’s Greatest Hits album, in turn, my most needle-worn albums of 1986. It has made me cry for years, not during those initial listens as a young woman, but as I’ve got much older. Hearing it being belted out on the big screen by Jennifer Hudson whilst learning of Aretha’s story was just overwhelming.

The film’s climax had me reach for the tissues again, which, unfortunately, was also when the lights came on in the cinema. 

I left the cinema with my head held high, ala Aretha. Superb film.

8½/10