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The True Story Behind Viola Davis Character in Ma Rainey s Black Bottom Kayla Keegan
On December 18, Netflix released the new film
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom, a drama adapted from a play of the same name, written by late Pulitzer-winning playwright
August Wilson. Produced by
Viola Davis, the movie centers around real-life blues pioneer
Gertrude Ma Rainey, on the day that she and her band record a song called Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Watching Viola depict Ma, it s clear the Oscar-winning actress did a lot of preparation to portray the powerful, bawdy, and charismatic singer. Although Viola worried she wouldn t be able to sing well enough to play the iconic Mother of Blues, after reading the script she knew she had to get involved.
The film, directed by George C. Wolfe and released by Netflix, is a poignant, masterful exploration of the dilemma of Black art in Jim and Jane Crow America. Ma knows who she is and refuses to compromise. She plays a style of music that made her famous in the Black South, and she won’t pander. But she is challenged by other band members who have a different understanding of the role of music in American racial dynamics. Young, talented trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman, in his last film before his death) thinks he can make music that will catapult him to a new level of fame and popularity with White and northern Black audiences, without losing his identity and artistic freedom.
And, by the time we take our leave of Levee (spoiler alert), they’ve become one of the most life-changing pairs of cinematic kicks this side of Dorothy’s ruby slippers.
When Levee (played by Chadwick Boseman in his final film role) first bounds into the pressure cooker of the band’s rehearsal room with the newly purchased yellow wingtips in hand, it feels as if he’s waving a loaded pistol with the safety off erratically around his fellow musicians. Things don’t get any less tense from there. It turns out his shoe-shopping detour has made him late, which irritates his bandmates. It also turns out that $4 of the $11 Levee paid for the shoes (around $165 in 2021 dollars) had come straight out of the trombone player’s pocket by way of a craps game which irritates them even more. In no time at all, the shoes become far more than just a pair of shoes.