Stuff You Gotta Watch: The Whole Gritty City
New Orleans is quite possibly the subject of more music documentaries than any other city in the world. Understandably, the Big Easy’s fame as the birthplace of jazz—alongside nourishing R&B, rock’n’roll, soul, funk, bounce, gangsta rap icons and much more besides—ensures it’s an attractive place for music documentarians. 2016’s The Whole Gritty City is filmed entirely in New Orleans yet doesn’t feature any of the aforementioned genres and there are no cameos from famous names. This is because it focuses on the city’s public school children who are learning instruments to play in three of the city’s marching bands.
The pupils who master their instruments will join bands that accompany parades, football and basketball games, and Mardi Gras celebrations. Learning an instrument is challenging and The Whole Gritty City documents how these kids—often in their early teens—grapple with such. It's not simply learning to play, but the problems life can throw up: dysfunctional families, drugs, gangs, crime, poverty. These kids have no privilege but rarely complain; instead they struggle on, determined to be part of a musical tradition that has long been part of Black New Orleans culture and identity.
Directors Richard Barber and Andre Lambertson do a remarkable job letting the youth (and their teachers) shape the feature. There’s no grandstanding or feel-good ending. That would feel false in a city where too many Black youth die young. Music documentaries rarely focus on non-professionals, and even more rarely on children: The Whole Gritty City reminds us how human making music is, how difficult learning an instrument can be, and why music remains so crucial to communities who often have little else to shield their cultural survival.
Review by Garth Cartwright. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.