For M.I.A., an uncomfortable spotlight
BERLIN — M.I.A., the Sri Lankan/London rapper and activist, is still trying to come to terms with “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.” the expansive documentary about her life and all its turbulent times that opens today. “I haven’t fully digested it yet,” said the woman born Maya Arulpragasam in 1975, known as Matangi, the daughter of the founder of Sri Lanka’s armed Tamil resistance. In the subsequent civil war, her family resettled in the U.K., where the immigrant teen became burgeoning artist Maya. She became world famous as M.I.A., an Oscar- (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Grammy-nominated songwriter and rapper whose identity embraced Tamil politics, punk, hip-hop and an ultraconfident voice. Still, she remains uncomfortable with seeing her personal history in the documentary directed by her friend Steve Loveridge. “I gave Steve the footage in 2011. A different era and different political climate,” said M.I.A., 43. “So the fact that the film comes out in 2018 puts it in that context. “To me it’s a film about so many different things. The time from when I gave him the film even if it’s a journey about economics or saying no to the Establishment or about race or gender or ethnicity --- there’s so many things to discuss. “Within it I’m just trying to be a creative person and accepted as a creative person. But the initial shock of having so much personal stuff in the film was very difficult.” “I’ve known Maya since 1995 so I was friends with her before she started making music,” Loveridge said. “All those stories of her before being M.I.A. I knew. “I watched these documentaries nobody had seen that were in her mum’s attic or garage. “When Maya had given them to me she hadn’t watched them. Her expectations were, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to make a film out of them.’ “This wasn’t an attempt to chase down bad press or rewrite the story,” he emphasized. “That’s water under the bridge and the past. It was to join some of the dots. “She’s not too worried about what people think of her; I always worry. The documentary’s not about making people like Maya. She changes a lot through the film — it’s someone 22 years old and younger to someone much older than that now.” “There are,” added M.I.A., “loads of things about the film I’m still processing.” (“Matangi/Maya/M.I. A.” is playing at Kendall Square Cinema.)