Why "Nine Lives of Marion Barry" is must-see TV

Last night HBO presented another of its summer Monday documentaries, and this one was worth watching. It is appropriately titled "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry." Barry of course is the current Ward 8 city council member in the nation's capital who was elected mayor a record four times despite constant run-ins with the law and being caught on that infamous FBI sting videotape smoking crack with an FBI female informant--while he was mayor. That was the sting in which Barry is heard on tape telling the FBI "the bitch" set me up.

While everyone knows of Barry from that one episode, what is particularly fascinating about this documentary by filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, is that it tells the untold story of why so many African Americans in D.C. turned to Barry time and time again for his leadership.

Many Americans probably do not know that until the early 1970s, Congress (often by white powerful congressmen from the South) was running D.C., not a mayor or city council. Many probably do not know that Barry, despite all the flaws we know about, actually did so much good for people in D.C. growing out of his days as an understudy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. He put men to work in jobs when no one else would hire them because of their prison records; he opened up government to people of color and provided them opportunities to work in the halls of power; he related to the desperation and cry to be free of impoverishment of black people in the nation's capital. He did a lot, and this documentary does a good job telling that story in 78 minutes.

I must admit, I did not expect to learn as much as I did when I first sat in front of my family-room TV to watch the television premiere. (The film was seen by a live audience in June at the SILVERDOCS film festival in Washington, D.C.).

Earlier, in speaking to the director/producer she told me it was not an easy project to pull off. Barry, Dana Flor, said was not a topic many people were interested in--when it came to funding a documentary about him. HBO finally picked up the project and agreed to put it front and center, which is what HBO does so well these days. (Remember "When the Levees Broke?" by Spike Lee).

Many networks are afraid to put cutting edge reality on TV. Reality TV that is real. TV that opens minds and eyes to many facets of America. HBO in its own way has become what we used to get from the likes of CBS News in the old "CBS Reports" days, or "Frontline" on PBS. Broadcasters could take a page from cable and return to what really is "ready-for-primetime TV" and give us a break on the overkill of the so called "reality TV."

While "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" is must-see TV and a great story, there area a few challenges for the viewer. Flor and Oppenheimer force us to view the life--political life--of Barry through a back and forth routine that starts with his 2004 return by running for council in a poor district of D.C. and then takes us back to his late '60s arrival in D.C., and you go back and forth through each administration and election and run in with the law, before we conclude with his latest resounding landslide election last November to another term on the council.

The genius of the film however, is the storytelling through Barry himself, and his now-deceased ex-wife Effi Barry. Her interviews--and his--add the human element that make the film whole. She expresses all the joy of the young couple when they met, then steadily explains the horror, pain and anguish of a wife who stands by her man through all the trials and tribulations--that ultimately cost them their marriage. Barry provides the resonance of a man who went to the top, hit rock bottom and now seeks redemption in his old-age. Even as he finds himself fighting off stalking charges and engaged in a new controversy pitting himself against his former allies in the gay community, Barry says he refuses to look back, or down, only forward and upward.

Another plus? HBO is re-airing the film a few times. Check the HBO Documentary Films Web site for dates. I give this thumbs up!