The Blues Under The Skin

In the early 1970s, during a resurgence of interest in the Delta blues, music documentarian Roviros Manthoulis traveled to the Mississippi Delta to capture on film the remnants of the authentic American blues. Traveling throughout the deep South, Manthoulis filmed candid interviews and intimate performances by such legends B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Mance Lipscomb, Bukka White, and Roosevelt Sykes. His objective was to document the music and penetrate the surface of the blues and explore the emotional and sociopolitical factors that make it such an expressive and haunting musical form. Blurring the line between documentary and fiction, The Blues Under the Skin dramatizes the tumultuous relationship of a young couple as they struggle to overcome the barriers of poverty and prejudice that keep them from finding happiness together.

(Roviros Manthoulis, France, 1973, English/French, 88 min, DCP)

Free for members (Includes UWM students) $5 admission for all others. You can inquire about a membership at the Union Cinema.