ALSO SHOWING
TIMED to coincide with the release of West Side Story (see above), Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It (12, 90 mins, HHHHI) is a fascinating study of a remarkable woman, a true trailblazer.
Moreno herself, astonishingly spry and beautiful at almost 90, recalls her arrival in 1930s New York from Puerto Rico, her professional debut aged six, the contract with MGM at 16, being raped by her agent, the abusive relationship with Marlon Brando that led to a suicide attempt and her many career triumphs.
Not only did she inspire countless others (Gloria Estefan and Eva Longoria both pay lavish tribute), there can’t be anyone else who was there when Gene Kelly did his iconic routine in Singin’ In The Rain and also there (standing at the front next to Sammy Davis Jr) when Dr Martin Luther King gave his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. What stories. What a life. Moreno is nothing if not a survivor which, alas, cannot be said of the subject of another worthy documentary, Citizen Ashe (no cert, 94 mins, HHHII).
African-American tennis champion Arthur Ashe was only 49 when he died in 1993 after contracting the virus that causes Aids from infected blood transfusions during heart surgery.
But he, too, had a compelling life story. Even though it began in segregated Richmond, Virginia, Ashe declined to rail loudly against racial discrimination. That wasn’t his style.
Instead, he let his ‘tennis do the talking’, prompting unfair ‘Uncle Tom’ accusations from black militants, but later became a potent, dignified campaigner for Aids awareness.
He was a fine man and fully deserving of this admiring film. n Both films are available on digital platforms.