“It’s hard not to be inspired by a life this well lived.”

“. . . a nuanced portrait of a woman who owned both the joy and pain of her life and poured all of it into her writing in an effort to liberate herself and others. This is a revelatory exploration of Angelou, a rebel who relished defying those who wanted to confine her in a box.”

“What Coburn Whack and Hercules do so well is capture Angelou’s power and elegance, which seems to have increased as she got older.   It’s that longevity and creative drive that the film celebrates. No hagiography, it paints a portrait of a life lived to the full and dedicated to being true to oneself.”

“Through a rich selection of archival material, directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack trace the traumas and triumphs of an extraordinary life. Offers ample evidence of her commanding intensity and of her importance as an unwavering voice of the black experience.”

“The images in the doc…make the film a whirlwind trip through black America in the twentieth century. Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack get inside the monument that Angelou had become in her later years, while never losing sight of their subject’s moral stature. Refreshingly lean…it’s Angelou’s voice that matters here, and the doc captures it.”