Sing Your Song

This is my first review of a film. I am a very avid film watcher never going a single day without watching at least one movie. I hope this lays an outline of my intense admiration for this film and Harry Belafonte. I was very surprised to not find this on any lists of amazing documentaries. The source material alone should garner a 7.5 rating let alone the fact we have the information given from the subjects own account. You ask anyone today white & younger than 30 who Harry Belafonte is and 9 times out of 10 you will get a look of confusion. This is almost devastatingly upsetting. I can't lie and say that I was not one of those people. Like most of my generation the knowledge of Harry stopped at Day-O or Beetlejuice. The influence this man had on our culture along with politicians and civil rights leaders should be public knowledge but I don't see this to be true. This documentary is important. The beautiful music may run in 2nd place in this film but it is rightly so. Harry who influenced people such as John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther king should be known for his unmatched kindness and insanely brave contributions to mankind. When I watch something that inspires me I become interested. When I watch something that reroutes the pathways in my brain I become obsessed. This film has done that. So, stop reading what someone as minuscule as me has to say and run to Amazon or Vudu and WATCH THIS FILM.

"Sing Your Song" opened this years 11th Sundance Film Festival and was certainly an outstanding start! The film received a heart felt ovation at its conclusion. I had the experience of seeing Harry Belafonte in 1954 when he toured with dancers Marge and Gower Champion in "Three for the Show". Shortly afterward I saw him in the film "Carmen Jones" only to learn that his singing voice had been dubbed! From time to time I would see him in a film or on a TV presentation or hear some of his recordings. Not until seeing "Sing Your Song" did I have any idea of the greatness of this man. This is an outstanding documentary that gives the viewer a portrait of an artist who had dedicated his life to help people all over the earth. I've always enjoyed Harry Belafonte as an artist, but now I respect and admire him for being someone who has done a great deal to lift up the downtrodden. This is a film that will touch the heart and inspire one to do more to help their fellowman. A GEM!

I've just viewed this superb documentary - it brings forth the remarkable life and man that is Harry Belafonte in a vivid and compelling manner. Sadly, however the entire widescreen (16x9) framed production presents it's archival clips and sequences (from early TV, movies, and news footage) in a hodgepodge of correctly re-adapted but otherwise visually distorted ways with no rhyme or reason. Much of the production is from archival sources - and so it's horribly distracting to see much of the footage in a vertically challenged way - stretched to fit the 16x9 frame. There is actually a shot of the sun that appears oval !!!! This is the sort of thing that is maddeningly now prevalent in so much of what is produced today -- but I didn't expect to see so much of it in a fine professionally produced and prestigious documentary such as this one.

Impressively directed by Susanne Rostock - "Sing Your Song" (filmed in 2011) is an in-depth bio-documentary closely covering the life and times of singer/actor/social activist, Harry Belafonte (who has been dubbed the "King of Calypso").

Through stills, archival footage, and interviews (especially with Belafonte, himself, 83 at the time) - "Sing Your Song's" story shows us a man whose glamorous career as a performer had often taken a backseat to the pressing issues of dealing with racism and segregation against blacks not only in the USA, but in other places around the world, as well.

Yes. I certainly recommend this documentary to all.

I've seen several pieces entitled "Sing Your Song". This morning, I think I found the most affecting one. It is dated 2011 and ends in a way that invites more.

In the documentary, Belafonte captures the heart and soul of the Civil Rights Movement and embraces subsequent efforts to bring the world back to loving acceptance. I was there for the Civil Rights movement and can almost touch the feelings stirred up by the pastiche of images and sounds. I remembered, and then I learned.

I learned how the attempts to keep us separated from one another are playing out in today's world. And I learned how frustrating is the journey to find a unifying idea that will touch today's people. God bless Harry Belafonte, because he keeps trying to find that idea/ideal. He reaches more of us than he knows.

It isn't perfectly made - too much material, too little time. But see it for its impact on your spirit, and then begin to think what you can do.