Seven Songs for Malcolm X

El Haji Malik Shabazz, a.k.a. Malcolm X, is now generally considered to be the father of the Black Revolution. He was the forerunner of the Black Power movement. Black Americans see him as the last great black American hero. Who was he? Why do memories of him persist so strongly after his turbulent life and dramatic death in 1965? In theperiod when Spike Lee's feature film Malcom X came out, Seven songs for Malcolm X was showing in New York. The documentary combines interviews with friends with reconstructions of events from malcolm X's life. This results in a detailed portait of the black leader who at the time was called the 'Angriest man in America'. Interviewees are, among others, Spike Lee, Malcolm's wife Betty Shabazz, writer Thulani Davis and Malcolm Jarvis, a friend of Malcolm's from prison. Giancarlo Esposito, the star from Lee's Do the right thing, reads from Malcolm's autobiography. The voice over is by the author Toni Cade Bambara.