A Filmmaker's Review: "What Happened Miss Simone?" (2015)

Nina Simone is known as not only one of the world's greatest entertainers, but also one of the 20th century's greatest pianists. A singer of revolutionary politics, she was not as appreciated at her time as she has been after her revival period. Her songs have often been anthems for causes such as the seminal "Mississippi Goddam" and her covers of jazz classics have always reminded us of the legendary Billie Holiday as Nina Simone once sang "My Baby Just Cares For Me" and even the song "Fine and Mellow".

In this documentary we get an up close and personal look at the star as she was to people who knew her. Overworked and underpaid, she was basically a machine for the vast majority of her life, suffering mentally and physically for it. Once she was in her marriage, she had a child and then, through an act of abandonment - left for Africa. Upon running out of money, she decided to return to the stage but with her mental health deteriorating, people had to step in to help out. Even though she was not in the best mental shape, Nina Simone still managed to steal a massive crowd when she was in France.

This documentary stars people who actually knew her such as her ex-husband, her daughter, the people who worked with her and others who were around at her own time. It covers the initial career years of the 60s, going through all the major songs and then, we get to the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the story seems to take a turn - Nina Simone becomes even more revolutionary than before and realises that out of the movement, she is one of the only ones left alive.

It is clear that in this documentary they are trying to paint Nina Simone as a troubled genius and I agree that is what she was. But I don't think it was her fault. I think that she had the same problem that Sam Cooke had - people were trying to suppress her politics and eventually, it just all unravelled. Nina Simone's mental health was compromised whereas Sam Cooke was shot dead. I think that whoever was trying to break Nina Simone didn't succeed because she came back with a revival tour in her later years. If she were really as broken as some people thought she was, she wouldn't have done that.

When it comes to Nina Simone's songs, they were very revolutionary with songs such as "Mississippi Goddamn" not even getting radio play. In the documentary, it describes how the vinyl for the song used to be sent back to the studio cracked in two. People just didn't like the song because it was a raw presentation of the politics in the country. Nina Simone states in the documentary why she does not like the USA and when she leaves, she does not return. She goes anywhere except the USA and it really does go to show what happens when an entire country refuses to listen to a message which includes treating other people like human beings.

I don't think that there was any real better way to tell Nina Simone's story. It was a very clear and accurate portrait of her and it didn't leave out any details of why certain things just turned out bad. I think everyone seems to agree on the fact that Nina Simone's nervous breakdowns weren't any fault of her own but, in her medicating of them - she was able to return to the stage. She was a great performer well into her older years as well with many citing the late 70s and 80s as the revival era being one of the key eras of the Nina Simone timeline.

There is a great deal of information in this documentary to take in all at once. For instance, there's the politics, the music, the deaths of civil rights activists and then there's Nina Simone's career and where that fits into the sphere of the movement. But the one thing I liked is that it doesn't concentrate on what happens in her final years or her death, instead it is a celebration of her life and music. It is a celebration of her talent and a great deal of the documentary is dedicated to her performances which are wild with passion and fire.