Chappelle's Show-ing Off?

Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Directed By Michel Gondry

The first five minutes of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party could and should be viewed as misleading. Two elderly gentlemen are trying to start their car as an amused Chappelle looks on. We continue in this vein for some time – the movie as well as the car is clearly doing its best to get going – before Chappelle ambushes them with a crass punch line: he uses a megaphone because these senior citizens have trouble hearing. The prop is then employed to announce the cast list and as each name comes out of his megaphone, it floats up on screen like a balloon bought at a street fair. When you consider that the director is Michel Gondry, he of more camera tricks than possibly any auteur in cinematic history, you begin to worry that this is going to be no more than a side project in vanity for its stars in front of and behind the camera. Thankfully, these are the only false notes struck over the course of this fascinating film.

Chappelle and Gondry have combined to stunning effect, which goes to prove that not only were the French New Wave directors of the 1950s and 60s always in awe of American entertainers but that the torch has been passed down to its current maverick. Gondry doesn’t mess with our minds or the simple telling of this beautiful tale. The “plot,” if you can even call it that, centers on the huge hearted Chappelle giving something back to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant and his current home town in Ohio. He put on a block party for his Brooklyn brethren back in September 2004 (crucially before he supposedly “went crazy” and escaped the pressures of a new season of his own show for a spiritual retreat in South Africa) by assembling the finest urban talents in the country. And this is some serious A list: Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, The Roots, Mos Def, Common, Dead Prez and, among others, the small matter of the Fugees reforming especially for him.

Gondry’s cameras constantly cut between and capture Chappelle handing out golden tickets in Ohio, rehearsals with the performers and live concert footage from the day. The folks in Ohio are clearly tickled by having a superstar in their midst. To Chappelle’s credit, he doesn’t distinguish between the melting pot of people: his fellow African-Americans get tickets (two of these kids jump on their beds to express their delight, which is as enduring an image as you’ll see all year long) as do the white middle classes. “I don’t hear well enough to catch the words,” says one man as way of ‘thanks but no thanks’ but his is a rare rejection, as the rest of town seem delighted to be provided with transportation and accommodation in New York.


The majority of the movie takes place in Brooklyn and whilst everyone is involved for the right reasons, it’s evident that they’re only there because they believe in and trust Chappelle. Whether it’s his way on the day with the crowd (“Free Tibet?”, he screams as he mocks a young guy’s T-Shirt, “it’s probably a free T-Shirt!”) or constantly cracking the bands up backstage (“I predicted that the D.C sniper was black because he was taking weekends off!”), he’s the most enthusiastic front man of the decade to date as his infectious charm and smile works its magic on everyone he meets.

The obvious reference point is Mel Stuart’s 1973 documentary Wattstax which interspersed performers rapping about the black American experience with typically searing observations from Richard Pryor, who is clearly an inspiration to Chappelle. Wattstax might appear to be more concerned with race – it ends on a static shot of a black fist – but Block Party makes its points too. Dead Prez have their views aired and Fred Hampton Jr., son of the slain Black Panther activist, demands that his speech isn’t edited (it isn’t) yet the film walks a fine line by not overdosing too heavily in any one area. Gondry doesn’t forget his obligations as a filmmaker either: he pans from Jill Scott’s performance to a rueful looking Erykah Badu who is waiting in the wings. Indeed, when they eventually share the stage, neither of them looks at each other until the song is over. It’s thrilling stuff and works precisely because it isn’t in keeping with the harmony heard on stage and exhibited by everyone on the day.

You’d imagine that the eventual DVD release will be an essential purchase if the concert is included in its entirety for it’s unlikely that so many ego’s will be put to one side and put together for free again. The music is sensational as the stellar cast express themselves with a rarely seen innocence. Kanye West, for example, is particularly taken with Ohio’s Central State University performing his intro to ‘Jesus Walks.’ And when you see how much it means to the community, be it kids or their parents and teachers, you just can’t escape the inevitable conclusion – that we’re all witnessing the Eternal Sunshine of Chappelle’s Mind.

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