Sing Your Song

M
Susanne Rostock, 104 mins, USA, 2011, Digital Betacam, B&W and Colour. Courtesy: Madman Entertainment.

Sing Your Song

From humble beginnings in Harlem to an Emmy, Grammy and Tony-winning performer, Harry Belafonte has endured throughout the decades. A meteoric rise to fame allowed the young Belafonte to travel extensively, exposing him to the extreme poles of society and harsh racial inequalities.

Spurred by his mother's advice to "never awaken where there isn't something in your agenda to help set the course for undermining injustice", Belafonte stood tall against racism alongside Dr King. His influence and that of his famous friends brought the civil rights struggle directly into the American consciousness.

In the decades since, Belafonte has been at the forefront of the anti-Aparthied movement, famine relief and youth education. The determination to use culture as an instrument of social change has been the enduring quest of his life. There is an illumination in his voice when he recalls the change he has enacted and fierce determination to have ongoing impact when he looks toward today's prevailing injustices.

Susanne Rostock's film honours this political drive by being both an intimate portrait of the performer and a rousing call to arms.