'Loudmouth,' Josh Alexander's documentary profile of Rev. Al Sharpton, catalogs the civil rights leader's career but is limited by a lack of other voices.
Of course, the bountiful archival footage “Loudmouth” has to draw from — speeches, marches, protests, arrests, news footage, talk show appearances — reminds us of the story we know, that in the ‘80s and ‘90s the Brooklyn-born and -raised Baptist minister with the recognizably James Brown-ian perm was as prominent a figure in the push against racial injustice as anyone.
The way he puts it, the story of the lion and hunter is that “the hunter writes the story,” which makes Sharpton the one trying to shift the narrative when Black people are deemed unworthy of fair treatment in a system that prefers they be unseen and disposable. He established those rabble-rousing bonafides in Howard Beach in Queens in 1986 after 23-year-old Michael Griffith died because of a racially targeted attack by white youths.
As for the reverend being the story of his own biodoc, however, “Loudmouth” — even at two hours — isn’t too keen on filling in the details or shadings that provide a deeper portrait. There are no interviewees besides Sharpton, and while he’s up for defending his part in the reputationally bruising Tawana Brawley rape allegations case and acknowledging that, what we’re left with is a long, fascinating life with curious personal and professional gaps.
It’s as sobering a prism as any through which to view a troublemaker’s life, what hasn’t changed, and what count as incremental victories. A year after Floyd’s funeral, Sharpton returned to the family to lead a prayer after Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction, and for once, he didn’t have to lead with bluster or fury — the lion from his metaphor allowing its roar to evoke eloquently measured hope, even if the hunted’s story was far from over.
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