In 2009, Tina Turner gave her last public performance. After that, she did something that only a few mega-famous musicians really succeeded in: she retired. With her second husband, the former record label executive Erwin Bach, she lived far from both her home country and the hustle and bustle of the music industry in Zurich.
But Turner continues to inspire. In 2019, a Broadway musical based on his life, made with his cooperation, became a success. His songs, both in partnership with Ike Turner and solo, are brands of classic radio stations. For this documentary, directed by Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin, she sat down for an assessment interview; this film is not just a summary, but a kind of farewell.
Turner’s life was difficult and complicated. In the 1980s and beyond, telling this story became a defining part of his subsequent life. She started in music in the late 1950s as a wide-eyed teenager in St. Louis, admiring R&B band leader Ike Turner and hoping to sing for him. He dismissed her several times, but when a bandmate insisted that he listen, Ike was amazed. He initially prepared it in a way that both Tina and former colleagues here describe as “fraternal”. But the little attention Ike had received in the music world fueled his paranoia, and when he realized that former Anna Mae Bullock could be his ticket to the big moment, he took control of Tina in terribly abusive ways.
The documentary gives Ike what he deserves as a musical force, while providing a clear portrait of a monster. Tina’s account of a suicide attempt is juxtaposed with a clip from a 2000 interview with Ike, in which Ike speculates that his then wife was “upset” with his “womanizer”.
Tina Turner struggled to keep her name after leaving Ike. And after doing all the shows she could do to get out of debt, she forged a solo career bigger than she possibly ever dreamed. She achieved this despite the resistance of racist executives and journalists who always wanted to ask her about the past. And finally she found love – not again, she says, but really for the first time – with Bach, who is also the executive producer on the film.
Because of his autobiography, “I, Tina” (written with Kurt Loder, who is interviewed here) and the feature film “What does love have to do with it” (starring Angela Bassett, who speaks here fervently about Tina’s talent and strength), you can believe that you know Turner’s story. And you can be right. It is well retold here, but the most moving parts – and they can bring tears to your eyes – come as Turner, almost 80 at the time of this interview (and as beautiful as she always was), wearing a tailored black suit, sits discuss where she is now. “By not forgiving, you suffer,” she reflects. “I had an abusive life … that’s what you have. So you have to accept it. ”The grace she shows here is almost irresistible.
Tina
Not evaluated. Run time: 1 hour 58 minutes. Watch on HBO platforms starting March 27.