'Tina' Review: Her Story on Her Terms
Written by Aubrey Benmark
Tina Turner in 1973 Photo Credit Rhonda Graam/Courtesy of HBO
The new HBO documentary Tina, directed by Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin, examines the personal life and decades-long career of the legendary singer Tina Turner. It begins with archival footage of her performing “Ask Me How I Feel” to a packed stadium of energized fans fueled by Tina’s powerful voice. The concert’s visuals continue as the music fades into an old sound clip of a reporter asking Tina if anyone has approached her to make or create the story of her life.
She replied, “Yes, but I don’t want to play the part. I’ve done it. . . It was just so unlike me, my life, that I don’t want anyone to know about it. . . it wasn’t a good life. It was in some areas, but the goodness did not balance the bad. So it’s like, not wanting to be reminded. You don’t like to pull out old clothes, you know?”
Tina truly donned many costumes and played many roles in her life: singer, dancer, mother, daughter, a survivor of domestic abuse, a triumphant star. And yet, throughout much of it, she lacked the agency to make her own choices. Tina, a story told in five compelling acts, allows the singer to take control of her narrative and put the final footnotes in the margins.
Tina was born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 and raised by sharecroppers who grew cotton on a farm fifty miles outside of Memphis, TN. Her parents fought constantly. They eventually abandoned Tina and her siblings, leaving them in the custody of an older cousin with next to nothing. At the age of seventeen, she met Ike Turner when she went with her sister to see his band play, billed the hottest band in town. Intent on being in the band, Tina relentlessly urged Ike to hear her sing, although she knew nothing of show business at the time— a weakness Ike would later exploit in his favor. They were never legally married, but without asking, Ike gave her the name Tina Turner and declared them a couple as a marketing ploy to sell more records.
From 1962 to 1978, they were Ike and Tina Turner, the sensational music duo. Tina dazzled onlookers with her undeniable talent. The documentary is flush with recordings of live performances that ignite fans as much today as they did back then. It seems unfathomable that the same person was simultaneously experiencing what Tina described as “basic torture.”
“I was living a life of death. I didn’t exist. But I survived it. And when I walked out, I walked. And I didn’t look back,” Tina said.
Ike got everything they built together. During Tina and Ike’s divorce proceedings, Tina asked for nothing but her stage name. Now in her forties, Tina used it to propel herself forward, dreaming of being the first black rock and roll star to fill stadiums like The Rolling Stones. However, she was hindered by an ageist, racist, and misogynistic industry that didn’t understand her or why she was no longer with Ike.
In 1981, to distance herself from her former partner and establish herself as a solo act, Tina did an interview with People magazine detailing some of the brutality she suffered at the hands of Ike Turner. She hoped it would make interviewers stop questioning her about him, but it only made their questions more intrusive. After the success of her debut album, 1984’s Private Dancer, the intrigue around her marriage grew. She penned I, Tina, with co-author Kurt Loder in 1986, hoping that she could put the story out there and be done with it. Instead, it became public domain.
Official Release Poster HBO
The film delves further into how the extensive and invasive media coverage of the abuse she endured perpetuated her traumatization, specifically obscene questions from various TV interviewers over the years. “Is there a real lowlight, something you’d love to forget?”, one reporter asked Tina, as if she were there only to give him salacious sound bites about domestic violence. Her husband and partner for the last 35 years, former music executive Erwin Bach, likened her experience to “a soldier coming back from the war.” Tina didn’t want to revisit the battleground.
While Tina recounts some of the savageries she experienced during her marriage to Ike, it doesn't show it or glorify it. The documentary focuses on how the media’s sensationalizing of her story affected Tina throughout the rest of her career despite her enormous success. It is the story of an amazingly talented woman trying to come to grips with why the darkest parts of her life could become such an inspiration for many, but also a sick fascination for others.
During Tina’s interview for the film, at the age of 80, she said, "You let it go because it only hurts you. Not forgiving, you suffer, 'cause you think about it over and over again. And for what? I had an abusive life. There's no other way to tell the story. It's a reality, it's a truth. That's what you've got. So you have to accept it."
In many ways, Tina's 1981 interview with People magazine was a #metoo moment long before social media existed, and a long time before women felt safe discussing domestic violence or sexual abuse publicly. In the end, Tina’s fans aren't inspired by the gory details of the torture she suffered. Instead, they are inspired by her musical legacy, the courage it took to share her story, and her determination to rise above it.
‘Tina’
Directed by: Daniel Lindsay & T. J. Martin
Running Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Streaming: HBO Max
