I'll preface this by saying that I was not a fan of rapper Tupac Shakur when he was alive. His death (and, yes, I DO believe he is dead) hasn't done anything to make me fall in love with his work. The documentary TUPAC RESURRECTION attempts to shed some light on the young artist . The movie was produced by his mother in connection with MTV Films. The format used for telling his story is unique: Shakur is shown in various interviews telling his tale while incidents from his life are shown. Starting with his childhood in New York, born to a woman who was in the Black Panther movement. He and his family then moved to Baltimore where Shakur was enrolled in a performing arts school where he took ballet and acting lessons. Kind of a bizarre beginning for one who would become one of the leading voices in rap. Not only that, but one who seemed to embrace the violent "Thug Life" that he spoke of in his songs and had tattooed on his body. RESURRECTION follows Tupac from the Bronx, Baltimore, onto the West Coast where he began to really gain attention. Both for his music and movies as well as his run-ins with the law. As he put it "I didn't start to sell records until I had a record". Shakur claims that he was providing the voice for all of those who were in poverty and couldn't make their voices heard. All well and good, but why the violence directed at other people who were in the same boat as he was as opposed to the people in power? There is a segment where he makes known his dislike for such artists as Spike Lee, Eddie Murphy and the Hughes brothers (he was arrested for an assault on them, a fact that he did not deny), feeling that they are sell-outs and cowardly. Needless to say, Shakur's outspokenness makes him a target from both authority figures and his peers. Of course, it is believed that that in-your-face attitude was what got him shot twice in separate incidents. Most of what is shown in RESURRECTION I already knew from what people had told me and what I've read. The movie didn't shed any new light on him. My guess is that this movie is already preaching to the converted and will be a hit amongst them. All others, like me, will still be out in the cold.
Review of Tupac: Resurrection
