Music legend Tina Turner is the subject of one of the most successful biopics ever made but she tells the makers of a new documentary there’s much more to her story.
“Tina” by Oscar-winning directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin premiered Tuesday at the Berlin film festival. It traces Turner’s six-decade career as an unlikely triumph over abuse and discrimination.
Paired with the musical about her that had its Broadway premiere in 2019 until the pandemic shut it down, the film is billed as the 81-year-old Turner’s farewell to her legions of fans.
The documentary includes emotional interviews with the singer in which she recounts her childhood of grinding poverty picking cotton in the Tennessee fields, her singing debut with violent husband Ike Turner and her lonely years even as the world’s top female rock star.
Friends weigh in including Oprah Winfrey, “I, Tina” biographer Kurt Loder and Angela Bassett, who was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Turner in the 1993 blockbuster “What’s Love Got to Do with It”.
Turner was famously critical of the movie, refusing to watch it for several years and rejecting her depiction as a “victim” in it.
– ‘Pack places like the Stones’ –
In the documentary, she explains that the reason she decided to come forward in the 1980s about her years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by Ike was that even after the split, interviewers insisted on asking her about their partnership.
“After all the success I have had, people were still talking about Ike and Tina,” she said.
“I wasn’t interested in telling that ridiculously embarrassing story of my life. But I felt that’s one way I could get the journalists off my back.”
Winfrey calls Turner a trailblazer in speaking out about her trauma at a time when it was still rare in the entertainment industry.
“Nobody talked about sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic abuse, abuse period,” said Winfrey, who survived molestation as a child.
“Our generation is the generation that started to break the silence.”
Turner admitted that even today, she still has flashbacks of being beaten.
“That scene comes back, you’re dreaming, the real picture’s there –- it’s like a curse,” she said.
Her German husband Erwin Bach compared her to a shellshocked “soldier coming back from the war”.
The documentary also spotlights the obstacles Turner had to surmount to become a stadium-filling sex symbol as a Black middle-aged woman.
“I had a dream: my dream is to be the first Black rock’n’roll singer to pack places like the (Rolling) Stones,” she said.
– ‘Bow out slowly’ –
The documentary includes a shocking interview in which a record company executive is quoted using racist and misogynistic slurs to explain why he wanted to drop her from the label in the early 1980s.
Given the rigid race-linked radio categories of pop and R&B in America, Turner and her Australian manager Roger Davies decided she should relaunch her career from Europe.
Turner got the last laugh with her 1984 album, “Private Dancer”, which sold millions of copies worldwide and included her first major solo single “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, a song she says she “hated” at first until she “made it my own”.
“I don’t consider ‘Private Dancer’ a comeback album,” she said, noting that it came out when she was 45.
“Tina had never arrived, it was Tina’s debut and this was my first album.”
She retired from touring in 2008 and near the end of the film, a frail-looking Turner attends the musical about her life with Winfrey and Bach on each arm.
“I should be proud of that, I am,” Turner says, fighting back tears as she bids “goodbye” to her fans from her home in Zurich.
“But what do you do to stop being proud? How do you bow out slowly, just go away?”
“Tina” is screening out of competition at the 71st Berlin film festival, which runs until Friday. (AFP)
About the Author
free phone chat lines
christian dating sites
free adult dating
mexican dating
gay dating agencies
gay jew dating site
gay speed dating dc
straight guy dating a gay guy
gay dating ny
gay dating nearby
korean gay dating site
jacked gay dating
gay bdsm dating website
gay dating site india
gay dating for big man
disco gay dating
chemistry gay dating
gay dating decoded
speed dating nyc gay
gay nerdy dating memes
free gay dating site online
gay dating phone
gc gay dating
offline gay dating
gay asian dating sites
fat men dating gay
babyboi79 gay dating
free gay dating site canada
gay speed dating boston
gay online dating closeted
gay dating sim games online
tinder for gay dating
online dating for gay guys
gay and bi dating sites
writing a biography essay
help me write a essay
writing a compare and contrast essay
how to make a hook for an essay
nhs essay examples
how to format an essay
dating and sex games
sex games free
best sex games of 2017
sword art online sex games
sex mobile games
dowlode sex games free
shark tank keto diet
keto diet unhealthy
keto meatloaf
essays about writing
writing a five paragraph essay
where can i buy an essay
life review essay example
big history unit 5 essay
write an essay
extended essay
writing a compare and contrast essay
step by step essay example
how to write a good hook for an essay
writing an argumentative essay
write my essay free
gay phone chat free no cost
reddit gay sex chat room
gay danish english chat rooms
vpn netflix free
free vpn for xbox one
free vpn apk
what defines critical thinking skills
is critical thinking a soft skill
critical thinking tests
critical thinking puzzles
critical thinking health sciences amcas
ted talk critical thinking types of thinking
brain critical thinking
ati critical thinking entrance exam test bank
how to teach critical thinking
do my essay
how do you start an essay
narrative essay format
essay for college application
college essay tutor
narrative college essay examples
gay chat avenue#1
gay black video chat
gay universe men chat
gay dating long term relationship oriented guys into spanish
dating gay bbc meet twinks
gay tommy defendi the dating game
gay dating app
paid gay escort dating
bareback gay men dating
gay dating apps described
black gay old men dating apps
bi/gay dating
mba dissertation help
dissertation abstract example
writing acknowledgement for dissertation
dissertation chapters
best dissertation writing service reviews
dissertation help in new york
how long is a doctoral dissertation
dissertation help in new york
writing a dissertation conclusion
citing a dissertation apa
dissertation writing services reviews
dissertation proposal writing services
dissertation prospectus example
dissertation writing services illegal
dissertation table of contents