‘Loudmouth’ shows Al Sharpton’s impact on the civil rights movement and his role as a voice for the Black community: ‘I’m the blow-up man’
CHICAGO — The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks this line in the documentary “Loudmouth,” the first on his legacy: “People call me to blow up issues. I’m the blow-up man and I don’t apologize for that.”
Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, was in Chicago this week for the premiere of the film at the Chicago International Film Festival. Over the course of two hours, viewers watch Sharpton’s trajectory from a teenager honoring James Brown on “Soul Train” to becoming a face and voice for the civil rights movement for decades.
Written, directed and produced by Josh Alexander, the film features Sharpton sharing his thoughts and views on key moments of his past alongside footage of his activism surrounding the death of George Floyd, the Tawana Brawley case (a Black teenager who in 1987 said she had been kidnapped and raped by a group of white men in New York), and the death of (a 23-year-old Black man who died
