James
Reese Europe and Eugene Bullard fought hard and they swung hard. The early jazz
musicians’ service during WWI earned them medals for bravery, but they were
bestowed by the French military, because the American forces would not allow
African Americans in combat divisions. Understandably, Bullard decided to stay
longer in the comparatively more tolerant France, becoming a leader of the
expatriate community in Montmartre. Director-editor-co-producer Joanne Burke
and screenwriter-co-producer-companion-book-author David Burke survey that
still influential artistic and musical expat scene in Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light (trailer here), which screens
during this year’s African Diaspora International Film Festival in New York.
Fittingly,
the Burkes’ doc starts with Europe, whose Harlem Hellfighters were quickly
celebrated by the French citizenry for their syncopated marching music and
their ferocious courage on the battlefield. Such a warm welcome was duly remarked
upon in letters home and subsequently reported in the African American press. Not
so surprisingly, many African American servicemen opted to stay in France, and
many more joined them later as expatriates.
The
Burkes earn a great deal of credit for devoting a fair amount of time to the
criminally under-heralded Bullard, one of our true national heroes. On the
other hand, they also fully address the great Sidney Bechet’s notoriously rowdy
stay in-country (as in bullets flying—into bystanders), which presents a somewhat
different side to the story. They also give Ada “Bricktop” Smith and a certain
dancer by the name of Josephine Baker the attention they deserve, which
definitely tilts the focus of the film towards music, but who would have it any
other way? (It also makes you wonder why nobody has thought to produce a narrative
film dramatizing Baker’s WWII years as a spy for the Free French.)
Still,
there is some interesting discussion of Harlem Renaissance author Claude McKay,
who was one of the few expatriates willing to criticize his French hosts for
their imperialism and nativist trade unions in the novel Banjo. We also see some striking art produced by African American
artists, many of whom were exploring their African heritage for the first time.