The film depicts the life and legend Nina Simone, classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist, who lives a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy.
"What Happened" features some of the best concert footage and musical performances in recent music doc memory, even if it never quite answers the question in its title.
I think the film overreaches in casting Simone as a standard-bearer against racism and sexism, but it's filled with mesmerizing clips from throughout her performing career as well as numerous interviews with Simone, both audio and on film.