Amazing Grace

The work as it stands now has considerable merit as a document recorded during a watershed period of the American civil rights movement. As a concert film, it's elevated by Franklin's powerhouse three-octave range and soulful phrasing.

The long-buried concert film is a tremendously powerful tribute to Aretha Franklin.

This musical feast was filmed a very long time ago - but it feels like only yesterday.

In Amazing Grace, Aretha Franklin transcends the blues by saying a little prayer - or singing one - for all of us.

It's a perfect marriage of faith and showbiz, dignified by the fact that there's nothing ersatz about it. At its heart is an unfeigned exuberance, together with a sense of history, which informs the tears, laughter and fervent expressions of belief.

87 minutes of pure joy/

Powerfully genuine, it is both a testament to the joy and strength of music, and how it empowers and dazzles different generations and people.

It is an austere recording with an equally austere backdrop, but in which every note is pure and sung in a magical atmosphere that approaches ecstasy.

​It took 47 years to reach theaters, but the documentary "Amazing Grace" is sheer musical bliss.

Moments of familial intimacy that allow us to instantly forget that we're watching one of the greatest singers of all time...