The "Sweet" Lowdown

Depending on who you listen to, "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song" pioneered not only black cinema, but independent filmmaking. Of course, if that's what you heard, then it's more than likely you're listening to Melvin Van Peebles. The outspoken director of the 1971blaxpoitation landmark has never been one to sell himself short. In "Baadasssss!", a half-documentary/half-retelling of the making of "Sweetback", Mario Van Peebles, playing his father, brings to life a man whose unapologetic bluster is a mask for an unflinching artistic vision. While the gritty, ultra-low budget "Sweetback" may not seem like artistry, its journey to the screen and its influence thereafter is undeniable.

The new film's opening montage of moments in Melvin's life after he made his first studio film, the 1970 sleeper "Watermelon Man", have a visceral, Scorsese-like quality. As a director, Mario plays with filmstock and uses some tricks of the trade to propel the story of his father's ultra-guerilla filmmaking tactics. Knowledge of the original film is a plus, but not required; much fun is had cutting footage of Mario, playing his father, into the original film. The younger Van Peebles looks so much like his father that, if the quality of the early footage weren't so difficult to match, you'd almost be fooled.

If the casting of "Baadasssss!" is not "meta" enough for you, Mario has a child actor playing himself as a child during the making of the notorious scene in which Sweetback (played by the young Mario) loses his virginity. Much is made in the film about Melvin's decision to use his 13-year-old son for the part; making "Baadasssss!" has no doubt been therapeutic for Mario. The family drama in the film is balanced with the rest of Melvin's epic set of problems, most of them financial. When all hope is lost none other than Bill Cosby comes to the rescue, but even that's not enough. Near the close of the film, Melvin is at the end of his rope, and a short, touching scene with his son, in the editing room, propels the film to another level.

The film is only let down by its screenplay which, written by Mario and based on his father's book, suffers at times from the type of dialogue usually found in "E! True Hollywood Story" re-enactments. There is no real plot, except Melvin's drive to get "Sweetback" made with apparently no money at all. Since the look of "Baadasssss!" is so polished, these shortcomings are more evident. Another run through the script might have been helpful. But like his father, Mario has heart, and the film has a palpable energy and a need to tell its story which overcomes these setbacks.

The original "Sweetback" was not a great film, but what it lacked in filmmaking skill it more than made up for in urgency and spirit. In telling the story of the man behind "Sweetback", "Baadasssss!" actually makes "Sweetback" a better movie. End credit interviews with the actual filmmakers, thirty years later, make you long for the DVD extras. Whether you believe it "Sweetback" was the first independent film is irrelevant. You can't deny what "Sweetback" spawned - the same can be said for Melvin.