Dear Mama

Often, the elliptical, nonlinear storytelling in Dear Mama is powerful enough to elevate it completely out of the documentary form. ... The five-part series Dear Mama feels like the Tupac Shakur documentary of record as it connects the rapper’s enduring legacy to the philosophies at work in his upbringing and presents its story in a challenging, rewarding nonlinear fashion.

Although the final moments are dedicated to the power of Tupac’s legacy, it is hardly the kind of feelgood, blemish-free music documentary that many viewers may expect; instead, it is a sharply defined portrait of two revolutionaries and their still-impactful lives.

Beyond its intimate and nuanced portrayal of their relationship, “Dear Mama” miniaturizes a huge swath of Black life without diluting it.

Hughes’ series is best looked at as a portrait made of splattered paint and by a seasoned hand, inspired by wisdom mined from hard memories. It is meant to have its flourishes looked at close-up, but also appreciated for the larger shapes that appear when one steps back and sees the full scope.

Sometimes the documentary is on the verge of losing track of Afeni entirely and then it re-centers around a speech or appearance that has a potency all its own. Dear Mama is challenging and not always successful, but the challenges feel right for the subject.