Ma Rainey's Black Bottom--A Stunning Achievement
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom By Joseph Cervelli First, thanks needs to be paid to Denzel Washington for being responsible in bringing the late August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" to Netflix. His goal (bless him!) is to bring all ten of the incomparable Wilson's canon of plays in the "Pittsburgh Cycle" that depict the struggles of African Americans through the 20th Century to film. "Ma Rainey" which appeared on Broadway in 1984 and may have been the only one in the series that I missed, is now gloriously brought to life. Directed with fierceness and tenderness by George C. Wolfe it boasts the superb Viola Davis as the lead character and an overwhelmingly amazing performance by the late Chadwick Boseman. It is astonishing that he was so ill making this his last film and looking so sadly frail that I sat in awe at how he could pull this through. He died at such a young age that I still think back at how versatile (an overused word th