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Biggie And Tupac

2002, Movie, R, 107 mins

Biggie And Tupac: Review

BIGGIE AND TUPAC | BIGGIE & TUPAC
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English documentarian Nick Broomfield loves controversy, and controversy surrounds the still-unsolved murders of rappers Christopher Wallace, known professionally as Notorious B.I.G., and Tupac Shakur. One-time friends whose bitter, high-profile feud epitomized the East Coast-West Coast rap wars, Shakur and Wallace died within six months of each other in 1996, both shot in public places (Las Vegas and Los Angeles, respectively) in front of dozens of witnesses who saw nothing. Conventional wisdom — and an exhaustive September 2002 Los Angeles Times investigative report — suggests that Wallace masterminded Shakur's murder, then fell victim to ongoing rap world violence. But Broomfield favors a theory blaming Death Row Records honcho Marion "Suge" Knight and the ongoing antagonism between Death Row and Bad Boy Records boss Sean "Puffy" Combs. The hit-and-run tactics Broomfield refined while making such incendiary films as AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER (1994), HEIDI FLEISS: HOLLYWOOD MADAM (1996) and KURT AND COURTNEY (1998) are in full flower here, and almost succeed in diverting attention from the fact that while he elicits some provocative theories about the rappers' deaths, he can't back them up. He's a filmmaker, of course, and not bound by judicial rules of evidence. But while a film like Errol Morris's THE THIN BLUE LINE (1988) presents a detailed and compelling alternative to the official version of a 12-year-old Texas murder case, this is just another episode of the ongoing "Nick Broomfield Show," in which everyone who tries to elude his intrusive camera looks like an evasive moron. Not that most of Broomfield's interviewees do themselves any favors: They shuffle thuggishly, mumble and make vague, expletive-laced allegations. Former LAPD cops Russell Poole and Kevin Hackie suggest that rogue police (several of whom were later snared in the Ramparts scandal) were involved, but Poole is restrained by ongoing legal actions and Hackie by what appears to be self-protective common sense. Neither has the smoking gun in his desk drawer. In this company, Wallace's mother Voletta, a determined, soft-spoken, former schoolteacher, is a breath of fresh air. Mrs. Wallace opened numerous doors for Broomfield, and though he's denied that her support contributed to his favoring the theory that paints her son a victim rather than a killer, it's hard to imagine not being swayed by such a quietly devoted and resourceful woman. Overall, the film is occasionally interesting but essentially unpersuasive, a footnote to a still evolving story. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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