Academy Award winner Alex Gibney’s latest non-fiction piece closely documents the life and music of Nigerian political activist, and Afrobeat creator, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Due to Fela’s unfortunate death in 1997, much of Gibney’s report is told through his extensively researched management of found footage – with interviews from his children, wives, and close friends spread intermittently among key moments of Fela’s life. Though this would ordinarily be enough in and of itself, Finding Fela also makes use of footage taken from Broadway’s Fela!, shamelessly, yet effectively boosting Gibney’s somewhat overindulgent pacing.

Despite Fela‘s lively subject matter, Gibney ultimately fails to offer any lasting form of personal perspective on the issues that surround it – gimmicks notwithstanding.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Fela Kuti, Yeni Kuti, Femi Kuti

DIRECTOR: Alex Gibney

SYNOPSIS: A biographical documentary following the life and music of Nigerian singer, Fela Kuti.