Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, which was released last week, is an immensely entertaining look at the life and times of Elvis Presley, made with all the razzmatazz and whiplash-inducing camera pans that one would expect from the acclaimed director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. The story is narrated from the perspective of Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks. Parker is portrayed as an unreliable narrator, who helped Elvis go from a poor background to become the "King of Rock".
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Hanks's Parker is a savvy businessman who, alongside Sam Phillips (Josh McConville) of Sun Records, sees in Elvis a musician who can bring rock 'n' roll, a sound developing in black underground clubs, to the mainstream US.
Luhrmann shows how Elvis turned songs – including Hound Dog, initially performed by Big Mama Thornton, and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's blues classic That's All Right – into Billboard chart hits. Elvis was renowned as a white singer who "sounded black". Commentators at the time said that he borrowed some of his infamous performance techniques from black musicians; his gyrating hips became the talk of the nation earning him the nickname Elvis the Pelvis.
Austin Butler uncannily emulates Presley in a performance likely to make the actor a household name. The film portrays the singer's meteoric rise, and shows Parker taking half of his earnings, and being prompt to head off any potential problems. When there is a furore about Presley's hip movements, he cajoles the musician into creating a more family-friendly performing style. When Elvis wants to go on an international tour, it's Parker who lines up the legendary Las Vegas residency. Presley's frustrations are sated by his bank balance, even as he famously puts on weight, and his star begins to wane.
The biopic veers away from delving into Elvis's relationship with Priscilla Presley, focussing on his career and, interestingly, his relationship with the black community. Elvis was born impoverished, and grew up in the mostly black neighbourhood of Tupelo, Mississippi. He grew up around black people, and by the time he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, he was such a big fan of black music that he covered the songs he heard. He was friends with the blues singer songwriter BB King, played in the film by Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Within this framework, the film claims that Elvis was instrumental in helping black people get equal rights in the US. It does this through Parker's narration, who acts as a mouthpiece for an idea formulated by Michael T Bertrand in his book Race, Rock and Elvis. Bertrand contends that by singing songs hitherto attributed to black musicians, Elvis helped white southerners rethink their attitude to race, leading to an unacknowledged (well, at least until Luhrmann's film) impetus for white people to support the civil rights movement.