Barack Obama’s list of favorite movies and TV in 2020 has an Alabama tie
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
Like everyone else, we were stuck inside a lot this year, and with streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I’ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I’ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format. pic.twitter.com/a8BS8jDkSs Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 18, 2020
Former President Barack Obama’s annual list of favorite films and television he watched in a year included at least one Alabama tie that we spotted.
Among other critical darlings like “Nomadland” and Pixar’s “Soul,” Obama highlighted “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” the film about an Alabama blues legend, brought back to life by Oscar-winner Viola Davis.
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ about Alabama blues legend, now on Netflix
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
You can finally stream “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” the long overdue film about blues legend from Alabama, with one of the world’s greatest actresses bringing her back to life on Netflix.
The streamer’s plot description: “Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management determined to control the legendary “Mother of the Blues.” Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play.”
It centers on the fateful recording session in 1927 Chicago and looks to go all out in its production design of the period. Rainey was one of the earliest Black professional blues singers and one of the first ever to record music. While she grew up in Columbus, Ga., the 1900 census indicates she was born in September 1882 in Alabama, and other research shows her birthplace as Russell