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Monday, January 30, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW
Sing Your Song
Tireless Warrior Fights Another Day For A Better Future
Activist, humanitarian, musician and actor Harry Belafonte standing behind Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. in an undated photo.
HBO Documentary Films
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Monday,
January 30,
2012
Now a tender 84 years of age, the legendary Harry Belafonte would be
forgiven (and well within his rights) for taking a back seat and retiring into
the sunset from his many years of impassioned activism. Susanne Rostock's
indispensible documentary "Sing Your Song", a film Mr. Belafonte narrates in the
first person, is packed with a kaleidoscope of the
activist-singer-actor-humanitarian's endeavors. The film is open and
candid about the political views of Mr. Belafonte, his conscience, his position
as a restless warrior against injustice, war and inhumanity around the world,
and his personal life.
Debuting last year at Sundance, "Sing Your Song" plays like a movie memoir, also
detailing the Harlem-born entertainer's film, television and singing career.
No stone is left unturned in an always engaging and revealing documentary that
lets you take stock of Mr. Belafonte's immense body of work on and off the
screen. At the same time however, "Sing Your Song" does not completely
preach to the choir of Mr. Belafonte's millions of fans and admirers. In a
couple of instances the all-purpose public figure's harshest critics are his own
children, whom in standard one-shot portrait-style close-ups rebuke (albeit
gently) their father for being largely absent during their childhoods, something
their introspective father admits and solemnly regrets.
Ms. Rostock takes care to include the more controversial (by some standards)
aspects of Mr. Belafonte's public life, most notably the furor unleashed when
white actress and singing sensation
Petula Clark touched Mr. Belafonte on the left
arm in 1968 during "Petula", a national television music special. The
incident caused a racist backlash against Ms. Clark and the NBC network by many
whites in the South and elsewhere. "Sing Your Song" also explores the
romance Mr. Belafonte's on screen character has with Joan Fontaine's in the film
"Island In The Sun" (1957).
Filled with often powerful archival footage, "Sing Your Song" is a detailed,
illustrious record of touchstone moments throughout decades of American and
world history, as well as a chronicle of Mr. Belafonte's symbiotic connection to
those events, and his relationships with women, film stars (mentor Paul Robeson,
Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston), human rights leaders (Dr.
Martin Luther King) and heads of state and government officials (Nelson Mandela,
Hugo Chavez, Bobby Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt) and the common man and woman.
Ms. Rostock's riveting and encompassing documentary leaves you with the feeling
that Mr. Belafonte, already with decades of hard work and significant
accomplishments behind him, is ready to roll up his sleeves for a few decades
more.
"Sing Your Song" is not rated by the Motion Picture Association Of America.
The film contains numerous bloody and
graphic images. The film's running time is one hour and 39 minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2012. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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