Rupture Magazine Review

Doc: “We Want the Funk”

In a world obsessed with filters, perfection, and algorithms that shape our every gesture, being yourself feels almost like a political act. We Want the Funk, the new documentary inspired not only by the life pulse of James Brown but also what is behind this great culture, reminds us that authenticity has always been radical — and that the groove, like truth, can’t be faked.

Brown’s voice cuts through time: raw, imperfect, alive. His body was choreography and defiance all at once — moving against the beat of the system. The film doesn’t just celebrate his legacy; it reclaims funk as a philosophy of resistance. In every sweat drop and scream, there’s a message: freedom begins in the body.

The documentary dances on that thin line between performance and identity, asking what happens when individuality itself becomes commodified. Can authenticity survive when even rebellion is aestheticized?

Rupture readers will recognize the tension — how the art world and social media both feed on “uniqueness,” yet flatten it into trend. We Want the Funk disrupts that smoothness. It’s an ode to the irregular, the spontaneous, the human pulse that refuses to sync with machine rhythms.

“Be yourself,” here, isn’t gentle advice. It’s protest. It’s art. It’s James Brown shouting “I feel good!” not as escapism, but as revolution.