Nowadays when celebrities take up causes, they’re just as likely to be pilloried as praised. However in the 1950s and 1960s, many African-American actors, singers and other artists were at the forefront of the Civil Rights struggle. Admittedly, it was rather different for them as there very existence was political, whether they wanted it to be or not.
Sing Your Song looks at singer and actor Harry Belafonte, a man who this documentary suggests should be as lauded for his activism as his voice. He grew up poor, but it was the Second World War that really highlighted to him the evils of racism. There was segregation in the army, and then when he and other blacks soldiers returned home from fighting for their country, they found they were still treated as second class citizens despite their brave actions.
As his music and acting career took off, Belafonte was faced with endless hypocrisies and contradictions. He could win a Tony Award on Broadway, but when he went on tour down South, he couldn’t use the front entrance. Las Vegas hotels were happy to put his name on the marquee, as long as he didn’t use any of the same facilities as white people, and lived in the black, poverty-stricken part of town. As the documentary shows, it was a time when even the simplest thing became needlessly complex and political TV stations refused to air one of Belafonte’s TV specials if the cast included both black and white people (although if everyone had been black, that would apparently have been fine), and when Petula Clark touched his arm during a duet on another TV show, it caused a firestorm.
In the face of all that, it’s little wonder that Belafonte and other black artists were proud to stand at the front of the Civil Rights cause. In fact, it was almost a necessity, as they were amongst the very few black faces who could be heard loudly in a country that still routinely silenced African-American causes. And Belafonte really was at the front, working with Martin Luther King, leading rallies and marches, and doing things often at great personal risk. This also put him in the sights of the government, with the CIA and FBI keeping tabs on him, amid accusations he was a communist.
Sing Your Song is a fascinating look at all this and follows Belafonte’s story through his other fights, such as getting stars together for the We Are The World’ charity single in the 80s, the crisis in Haiti in the 90s and his opposition to the war in Iraq in the 2000s. Even now at the age of 85 he’s not resting on his laurels, organising meetings and summits to address the disenfranchisement of youth and the threat of essentially criminalising poverty.
It’s a truly fascinating documentary and a real eye-opener about an incredible man. There should be one note of caution though this is Harry essentially telling his own tale, so it’s not exactly impartial, but even so, purely in terms of verifiable facts he’s led a truly astonishing life. Sing Your Song is an absorbing look at the man, with plenty of interesting interviews with those who’ve worked and campaigned alongside Harry, along with lots of archive footage of Belafonte in action, both as a singer and as an activist.
Overall Verdict: Harry Belafonte may not be as famed a name in the UK as he once was, but this is still a very good documentary about a fascinating subject.
Special Features:
The Forgiveness Project’ PSA
Reviewer: Tim Isaac