Father, son go black to the future

In 1971, Melvin Van Peebles made "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," one of the first and most important independent films ever made. Thirty years later, writer, director and actor Mario Van Peebles ("Ali," "New Jack City"), Melvin's son, set out in his father's footsteps to make one of the best films on how films are made since Federico Fellini's "81/2."\n"Sweetback" is often said to be the first in a long line of "blaxploitation" films of the 1970s, setting the stage for movies like "Shaft," "Superfly" and "Coffy," when really the low-budget 1971 movie made way for the independent film market that we know today. \nIn "Baadasssss!," Mario plays his father and tells his story down to the last detail. The movie opens with the birth of the idea and the funding for "Sweetback," then moves into the nitty-gritty struggle that the filmmakers went through during filming and in post-production. The film crew is put in jail, funds disappear quickly and tensions build between Melvin and the people in his life, but still he manages to continue on with his dream.\nMario, who starred in the original "Sweetback" as a child in a controversial opening sex scene, brings a great deal of honesty and emotion to the role of his father, showing every angle of the story.\nThe DVD features some nice special features, including an interesting "making of" documentary, a commentary track by both Melvin and Mario and a Q&A segment with Melvin. For those of you unfamiliar with the original "Sweetback," "Baadasssss!" is still a very solid film, especially if you are interested in the raw side of independent filmmaking.