People today find nothing strange about anyone who lashes out or takes a stand against protocol, but pushing the boundaries was not exactly the smartest thing to do back in 1971. Nevertheless, Melvin Van Peebles had had enough of racism, double standards and inequality. That’s why he made Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, a radical film he hoped might follow on the success of his other films, The Story of A Three-Day Pass and the amusing Watermelon Man.

Watching his father make the movie and actually being a part of it in a porn scene at age 13, Mario Van Peebles uses his new film Baadasssss! to take a look back at the making of his father’s controversial Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. 

Baadasssss! is clever, funny and certainly original. It’s part documentary – using actual footage of the his dad’s film – but in a feature sort of way; and yet it’s also a son’s look down the family tree at where he came from and where he was going. Mario, who takes on the role of his dad, details the filming of a movie his father was destined to make. He highlights the courageous, unrelenting but almost impossible struggle his dad had to endure to complete the movie.

It’s not that Melvin didn’t have a lot going for him already:  he was the first black officer in the US Air Force, a writer and painter who moved to Paris, learned French and became a filmmaker. During one period he even had two plays running at the same time on Broadway

But the father figure Mario sees in Baadasssss! is a lot more transparent. Like many dreamers who have mortgaged their souls to Hollywood, Melvin took the low road to fame and entered the dungeon of reality in filmmaking. He was dedicated beyond reason, as if making the film would finally empower blacks to take their rightful stand in America.

After getting turned down for financing, Melvin was such a loose cannon he started the production without thinking about the sacrifices it would mean for his crew, cast and family. His crew got arrested; there were death threats; and the film received an “X” rating. Irrational right to the end, Melvin wouldn’t change a thing and advertised the X-rated fact, which landed Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song in only two theaters in the entire country.

So Mario has made his movie, but maybe one for his dad, too. “It was as if I had some parental unbiblical cord wired into my hard drive allowing me to channel directly,” said Melvin’s son, who would endure all the same things his father did in getting his “heart” movie made.

This boiling pot of politics, filmmaking and self-discovery contains pervasive language and some strong sexuality/nudity, but Baadasssss! is one of the freshest and most honest films to come along in years. It shows how willpower, strength and humor can help  overcome all obstacles.

(Released by Sony Pictures Classics and rated “R” for nudity, sex, language, drug use, and violence.)