I don’t watch a ton of documentaries on streaming services, particularly those about entertainment and show business. Sometimes it feels like all those have turned into those usually-lame “making of” special features that accompany movies on disc.

That’s why “Is That Black Enough For You?!?” feels like such a revelation. Not only is it revelatory because of its subject matter – there’s a lot to say about Black filmmaking – but it feels like the rare recent entertainment industry documentary that comes from a place of knowledge and passion.

That’s because of Elvis Mitchell, the veteran writer and documentary maker who wrote and directed “Is That Black Enough For You?!?,” which I’m going to refer to, going forward in this blog post, as “Black Enough.” Mitchell is a scholar and deeply invested in the subject.

“Black Enough” – which takes its full title from a wry line from Ossie Davis’ “Cotton Comes to Harlem” from 1970 – is a 2022 Netflix original that escaped my notice until a couple of weeks ago, when I saw a reference to it in an article. (It would be cool if Netflix promoted the film a little more.)

Although the film is marketed as a movie about the period from 1968 to 1978, which included the so-called “blaxploitation” period of action-filled movies, romance films and horror flicks with Black actors and sometimes Black directors that reached audiences of all races, there’s a lot of history from before 1968, when stars like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte – who gives one of his last interviews here – broke through.

We see not only many, many clips but get to enjoy interviews with Belafonte and others including Glynn Turman, Margaret Avery and Samuel L. Jackson

Especially gratifying is the movie’s observations about how Black directors, movie soundtracks and actors influenced so-called “mainstream” cinema: The movie recounts how Black films were copied in other, later films. And when I say “gratifying,” I note that it is not gratifying that so many good-to-great films with Black casts and Black moviemakers like Davis and Gordon Parks and Melvin Van Peebles and Pam Grier and Richard Roundtree and so many others were exploited by other films that stole their groundbreaking moves. But it is gratifying that this history is recognized.

Happily, “Black Enough” was nominated for an Emmy in the documentary film category, and although it didn’t win, the nomination might carry with it increased demand for viewing on Netflix. It’s well worth your 2.5 hours.