Biggie And Tupac review

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The mixed critical reaction to Nick Broomfield's last film, the rambling Kurt&Courtney, damaged his rep as one of the gutsiest documentary makers around. So fans of his earlier output will be relieved to hear that Biggie And Tupac is not just a return to form - it's his best work yet.

He starts with the murder of Westside rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996 and the apparently retaliatory killing of Eastsider Biggie Smalls (aka The Notorious BIG) the following year, but his investigation is far more than a dissection of gangsta rap at its lowest point. Broomfield reveals that the Los Angeles Police Department was likely involved in both hits, and focuses his attention on the owner of Death Row Records, Marion `Suge' Knight - who's implicated as the man behind the two killings.

Climaxing with Broomfield wandering nervously around an LA prison in search of Knight (who was then serving a nine-year sentence for violating probation) and securing a brief interview against Death Row's wishes, Biggie And Tupac is the very best kind of doc, sustaining its revelations with a powerful dramatic thrust.

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