Sing Your Song

Name: Sing Your Song
Genre: Documentary
Released: January 13, 2012
Rating: 73

2012

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Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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5.8	Your Score
5.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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Sing Your Song

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Movie Details & Credits

HBO Documentary Films | Release Date: January 13, 2012

Summary: Groundbreaking singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte rose to fame in the U.S. in spite of segregation, and crossed over into mainstream America on his way to international stardom. His hit 1956 album "Calypso" made him the first artist in industry history to sell over a million LPs, and spawned the smash single "Banana Boat (Day-O)."Groundbreaking singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte rose to fame in the U.S. in spite of segregation, and crossed over into mainstream America on his way to international stardom. His hit 1956 album "Calypso" made him the first artist in industry history to sell over a million LPs, and spawned the smash single "Banana Boat (Day-O)." Though recognized with Grammy, Tony and Emmy awards, Belafonte was blacklisted, harassed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), spied on by the CIA and FBI, and threatened by the Klan, state troopers and Las Vegas mafia bosses.
Distilled from more than 700 hours of interviews, eyewitness accounts, movie clips, excerpts from FBI files, and news and rare archival film footage and stills, some of which has never been seen before, Sing Your Song reveals Belafonte as a tenacious hands-on activist who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and took action to counter gang violence, prisons and the incarceration of youth. (HBO Films)… Expand

Director: Susanne Rostock

Genre(s): Documentary

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Critic Reviews

Andrew O'Hehir

Jan 12, 2012

Most famously, Belafonte ignited immense controversy both within and without the black community by repeatedly suggesting that Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice were the "house slaves" of the George W. Bush administration. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Jan 12, 2012

The revelations keep coming in Sing Your Song and it's hard not to go googly eyed when, for a 1963 CBS special, you see Mr. Belafonte discussing the march on Washington with some fellow marchers, Mr. Poitier, Marlon Brando, James Baldwin, Charlton Heston and the film director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Read full review

Joe Neumaier

Jan 12, 2012

Belafonte still finds ways to address injustice - and now we have over 50 years of his example to follow and his music to enjoy. Read full review

John Anderson

Jan 12, 2012

Moving and enlightening as it serves up a crash-course in 20th-century history. Read full review

Betsy Sharkey

Jan 12, 2012

Really more of an effusive autobiography of the 84-year-old singer-actor than a traditional documentary, so be prepared for something close to sainthood in its tone. Read full review

Kalvin Henely

Jan 12, 2012

It's likely, then, that the film was directed by Susanne Rostock the same way Belfonte's new memoir, My Song, was written with Vanity Fair's Michael Shnayerson: to articulate, polish, and edit what the vociferous and at times alarmingly honest Belfonte wants to tell us without injuring his credibility outside of the left any further. Read full review

Melissa Anderson

Jan 12, 2012

Produced by his youngest daughter, Gina, this profile of Harry Belafonte, foregrounding the 84-year-old actor and singer's political activism, is a moving if occasionally wearying hagiography. Read full review

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