Nine Lives Later, Marion Barry Still Captivates

SILVER SPRING, MD -- The first crowds were milling outside AFI's Silverscreen Theater at yesterday's world premiere of "The Nine Lives Of Marion Barry" hours before the show was set to start. By the 6:30 PM show time at the Silverdoc documentary film festival, exasperated organizers were turning throngs away at the door and warning those lucky enough to get a seat that their loved ones outside parking the car wouldn't make it in.

The reason for the excitement was obvious the moment a black stretch limo with police escort pulled up in front of the cinema. Inside was Barry, the film's subject. The four-term DC mayor and Ward 8 city councilman was greeted by cheers, boos and chants of "shame!" from the crowd waiting to get in. Barry, nattily dressed and trailing an entourage that included his 19-year-old godson Dennis, smiled, waved and took his seat at the theater. He munched on hot dogs in his reserved seat as the show got started. The documentary, set to premiere nationwide in August on HBO, chronicles Barry's dramatic rise from SNCC street organizer to DC's second Home Rule mayor through a political career is the stuff of legend. Barry served six months in prison for crack cocaine possession between his third and fourth term, after a high-profile trial resulting from his arrest in an FBI sting operation.

The film focuses less on his career as a policy maker than on the man himself. The crowd -- full of DC residents and officials -- did the same, clapping and cheering when Barry's successes were depicted and laughing when his many public apologies were shown. Premiering in a city where Barry's legacy is still a very hot topic, the documentary that aimed at putting context to his life, played second fiddle to a crowd more interested in the here and now.

"You either love Marion Barry or hate him -- that's the way it is," ex-DC ANC commissioner Ken Fealing told On Call. Fealing, now the president of New Media 3M, was reviewing the film for DC's Eagle newspapers. He remembered working in the city under Barry's reign. Asked where he came down on the love/hate line, Fealing laughed. "Kinda mixed, I guess," he said. "But that's the way it is, too."

After the film, NPR's Juan Williams had essentially that same conversation when he moderated a panel discussion with the filmmakers, Civil Rights activist Lawrence Guyot, NBC4-TV's Tom Sherwood and DCWatch.com's Dorothy Brizill. The overall feeling about the man from the panelists? As Fealing might say, kinda mixed.

After the panel was over, Barry himself took the stage, addressing the audience and taking no questions. He described himself as man with "triumphs and tragedies," which he said made him "just like everyone in America." Barry said that what made him different was that "some parts of the media have demonized me."

"But if you take a look at 50 years of public service all together, instead of in little slices," he said, "you see that I've helped millions of people."

One might wonder why Barry would choose to join the audience at a film that took a hard look at his checkered past. "Nine Lives" features many people -- including his late ex-wife -- speaking frankly about their disappointment in the one-time civil rights icon-turned-drug abuse poster child. Barry didn't address his reasons directly, but he suggested that he subscribed to that adage that no publicity is bad publicity.

"I thought it was a good, balanced film," Barry said. "I know how the media can be." He paused. "But I love 'em anyway."

He left to a standing ovation, shaking hands and politicking as he made his way through the theater. He also looked for details about the premiere's after party from his staff.

"Is there going to be press there?" he asked.

(EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO)
(Photo by CongressDaily's JASON DICK)