The Soul of a Man (2003)
103 min
Wim Wenders looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite blues artists: Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. Part history, part personal pilgrimage, the film tells the story of these lives in music through an extended fictional film sequence (recreations of '20s and '30s events - shot in silent-film, hand-crank style), rare archival footage, present-day documentary scenes and covers of their songs by contemporary musicians such as Shemekia Copeland, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Garland Jeffreys, Chris Thomas King, Cassandra Wilson, Nick Cave, Los Lobos, Eagle Eye Cherry, Vernon Reid, James "Blood" Ulmer, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Marc Ribot, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Lucinda Williams and T-Bone Burnett.
- Release date
- May 6, 2004
- Country of origin
- United States, Germany
Where to watch
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Cast
- Laurence Fishburne as Self - Narrator
- Chris Thomas King as Blind Willie Johnson
- T Bone Burnett as Self - Featured Performer
- John Mayall as Self (archive footage)
- Lucinda Williams as Self
- Bonnie Raitt as Self
- Marc Ribot as Self
- Cassandra Wilson as Self
- Keith B. Brown as Skip James
- James Hughes as H.C. Speirs
- David F. Hughes as Art Laibly
- Shayne Tingle as Recording engineer
- Joy Brashears as Secretary
- David Barnes as Self
- Beck as Self - Featured Performer
- James Blood Ulmer as Self - Featured Performer
Crew
- Wim Wenders · Director
- Wim Wenders · Writer
- Margaret Bodde · Producer
- Alex Gibney · Producer
- Lisa Rinzler · Cinematographer
- Mathilde Bonnefoy · Editor
- Liba Daniels · Production designer