The Soul of a Man

The Soul of a Man

2003 · 103 min · ★ 6.6 · Documentary, Music

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.

Directed by Wim Wenders · Written by Wim Wenders

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Cast

Laurence Fishburne Self - Narrator
Chris Thomas King Blind Willie Johnson
Keith B. Brown Skip James
J.B. Lenoir Self (archive footage)
Skip James Self (archive footage)
T Bone Burnett Self
John Mayall Self (archive footage)
Lucinda Williams Self
Bonnie Raitt Self
Marc Ribot Self
Cassandra Wilson Self

Make it a double feature

3h 28m together

The Soul of a Man

Buena Vista Social Club

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