It takes at least two things to make a terrific documentary: A great subject and a light but deft touch. Susanne Rostock?s Sing Your Song, which traces the career of Harry Belafonte with a specific focus on the singer and actor?s social activism, certainly has the former -- it?s the latter that?s lacking. But if nothing else, Sing Your Song works as a testament to Belafonte?s drive and dedication to causes well outside the usual goals of simply making money. If you don?t know much about Belafonte beyond the fact that he was that great-looking guy who had a hit in the '50s with ?The Banana Boat Song,? Rostock?s documentary is as good a place as any to start.
Sing Your Song is simply conceived and constructed: Rostock (making her directing debut, though she?s been editing documentaries for years) uses on-camera interviews with Belafonte, as well as voice-over narration, to frame a selection of television and news clips and still photographs. The story doesn?t need much embellishment: Belafonte was born in Harlem in 1927, though he spent a portion of his childhood with his grandmother, in Jamaica. He served in the Navy during World War II, and afterward became involved, along with his friend Sidney Poitier, with the American Negro Theater. Belafonte also studied acting at the New School, along with Poitier, Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau and Bernie Schwartz (the last better known as Tony Curtis). He began singing in clubs in New York in the early 1950s. And when he saw Huddie Ledbetter on stage one evening, he was inspired to start researching folk music himself, not just purely American folk music, but that of other countries as well -- his 1956 album Calypso was the first LP to sell more than 1 million copies. (Sing Your…
Amber Valletta America Ferrera Amerie Amy Cobb Amy Smart Ana Beatriz Barros Ana Hickmann Ana Ivanovi
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