The Power of Voices Lifted in Song

“Rejoice and Shout,” which initially seems rambling and digressive, snaps into focus once it begins relating a chronological history of a genre that evolved out of the fusion of plantation work songs and Christian hymns.

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Drawing on the voluminous materials collected by archivist-producer Joe Lauro, vet music documentarian Don McGlynn has created in "Rejoice and Shout" an overview of African-American gospel sounds whose dazzling talent-display should exhilarate viewers regardless of religious leanings.

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Regardless of your religious beliefs, the sounds of gospel choirs and singers seen in Rejoice and Shout are something worth seeing, and the sheer vocal power alone is enough to inspire a spiritual insight into a world filled with soul.

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The main reason to see the film is to see archival footage of ecstatic congregations experiencing the power of live performances, delivered with unfettered abandon.

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The Gospel on Gospel in Rejoice and Shout

The best bits—the powerful instrument called Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, for example—more than speak for themselves.

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Review without score. The score is calculated by the review's remarks.

Don McGlynn’s Rejoice and Shoutis probably the first documentary ever to look comprehensively at the 200-year musical history of African-American Christianity — which is to say gospel music — and may well be the last.

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Review without score. The score is calculated by the review's remarks.

Rejoice and Shout is full of rarely seen performances by some of the greatest artists in the genres that collectively make-up what we call gospel.

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As a mix tape (or ipod shuffle) of gospel music, Rejoice and Shout is a wonderful starting place, albeit a superficial chronicle of a music genre's evolution.

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Rejoice and Shout, Don McGlynn's documentary on the history of gospel music, is a film for connoisseurs.

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The evolution of gospel music is examined. Say amen, somebody!

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Doesn't go deep

Only rarely does the film present a genuine insight, such as the observation that many black people loved to dress up in their finest for church because, during the week, they were so often dressed as servants and manual laborers.

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