Sing Your Song (2011)

Directed by: Susanne Rostock | 104 minutes | documentary

“House slaves,” as singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte called Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell in 2002. He believed that as influential African-American politicians, they should rebel against then-President George W. Bush’s decision to go to war. pull against Iraq. It would not be the last time that Belafonte – now well into his eighties – would criticize the establishment, and certainly not the first time. Belafonte, born in 1927, has been involved in protest movements for much of his life. He played an important role in the American civil rights movement. He is not nearly as well known in the Netherlands as in his homeland, where his songs, including ‘Island in the Sun’ and ‘Banana Boat Song’, are almost part of the national cultural heritage. In her documentary ‘Sing Your Song’ (2011), filmmaker Susanne Rostock gives an insight into the life of the charming and intriguing Belafonte, who should have had his own biopic years earlier.

‘Sing Your Song’ begins in the Harlem, New York flat where young Harry grew up. His father quickly ran off, after which his mother decided to send her son to relatives in Jamaica. He is musically formed on the Caribbean island. Back in the US, after serving in the US Army during World War II, he accidentally rolls into the entertainment world. First as a jazz singer, but the stage beckoned as well. He took acting lessons with none other than Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier and Walter Matthau, with whom he developed close friendships. In 1953, he became the first black artist to win a Tony Award. Around that time, Belafonte made the move to Hollywood, where he starred in ‘Carmen Jones’ (1954, alongside the tragic Dorothy Dandridge) and in ‘Island in the Sun’ (1957), in which his co-star was Joan Fontaine. The romance of a white woman and a black man on the silver screen caused quite a stir. It only fueled Belafonte’s urge to fight for equal rights for white and black.

A film about Belafonte’s life is not only about entertainment, but also about politics. It seems that his life is entwined with American modern history. In the 1950s he was blacklisted by the notorious communist fighter Joseph McCarthy for his principles of equal rights, a decade later he was at the forefront of protests for equal rights. Martin Luther King Jr. was a personal friend and Belafonte used his personal network of celebrities to raise awareness for the Civil Rights Movement. His TV shows were well watched and his records sold like hot cakes, but in the south of the US it didn’t matter if you were a Hollywood star. As an African-American, you were seen as inferior there anyway. A performance by Belafonte on Petula Clark’s show, in which she touched his arm during a duet, set things on a high note. Africa also stole his heart. Not only did he give African artists like Miriam Makeba a stage in his TV show, he supported the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Moreover, he was one of the initiators of ‘USA for Africa’, the benefit single for the benefit of the famine in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s. Now in his eighties, he is still just as combative and knows how to bring different generations together in the fight for a better world.

‘Sing Your Song’ pays tribute to the man who, from the first day he took the stage, championed the rights of ethnic minorities around the world and not only tells his life story, but also places that eventful life once in the context of its time. Belafonte’s life story is American modern history in a nutshell. The fact that the good man is also eloquent, thoughtful and sympathetic, and knows how to convincingly convey his message of equal rights, makes ‘Sing Your Song’ a pleasant viewing experience. Because Belafonte is open and honest about his shortcomings (two marriages broke down and his four children didn’t always get the attention they deserved), and therefore also places a critical note, even though Harry’s own daughter produced the film, the film gets even more convincing. . Rostock also managed to obtain a lot of interesting archival material and recruit involved and appealing speakers, including Sidney Poitier, Coretta Scott-King (the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.) and a handful of former civil rights fighters, resulting in an extremely fascinating history lesson to the based on the impressive life story of the man who, according to himself, has been in a ‘state of perpetual optimism’ all his life.