A Well Spent Life (1971)

• 74%
• 1971
• Documentary
• Music
• Les Blank
• Skip Gerson
• Mance Lipscomb
• Elnora Lipscomb
• Hattie Franklin

Mance Lipscomb, born in 1895, a Black Texas sharecropper, guitarist, and singer, was recorded by Arhoolie Records in 1960. About ten years later, a film crew visits to listen to him play and sing and to record his reflections on a life well lived. We meet Elnora, his wife since 1913; she explains why she doesn't eat at the table with him. She cooks, Mance tells how a neighbor got his leg shot off, we see a baptism by immersion at which Mance assists. He talks about love and sacrifice, adopting and raising children including those of his sister, being with his grandchildren, traveling the US to sing, and his thoughts about dying. He presents peace, quiet, and great music.