TFF: History Is Alive in 'Sing Your Song'

Harry Belafonte in Africa. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.

IT was in part the death of Harry Belafonte’s friend and acting workshop classmate, Marlon Brando, that inspired him toward “Sing Your Song.” The documentary was shown at the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival Friday night.

“I wanted to talk to these guys who were left while they could still talk,” HB, 84, said of his various colleagues. He made this revelation to journalist Tavis Smiley during a “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie” interview.

Among those contemporaries is Quincy Jones, 78, who received special recognition Thursday at a Tribeca Film Institute Legacy Celebration. Another is Sidney Poitier, 84 and eight days older than HB, the latter pointed out, who will be honored for his life’s work Monday with the 38th Annual Chaplin Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

“Sing Your Song,” a video biography directed by Susanne Rostock and produced by HB's daughter Gina Belafonte, will have a wide release on HBO in the fall. It is a delectable piece of American history and Civil Rights history.

The young and drop-dead gorgeous HB was on the path to super stardom until an encounter with a Southern police chief hastened his transformation into an artist-activist. Soon enough, the activism would dwarf the art (singer, actor, producer), for his conscience would not allow otherwise. A guiding spirit, too, was a directive given him as a boy by his mother: awake each day with a plan in mind to do something about injustice.

Not only is HB handsome, he is humble. It is owing to this humility that the real, true extent of his accomplishments – his role in the Civil Rights Movement, for instance, is known to very few. Of course, he was a point man for Dr. Martin Luther King, but HB helped disciple then-Attorney General Bobby Kennedy to the cause. Once he journeyed – with SP in tow – to deliver funds to SNCC (Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee) members in Mississippi. It was a risky mission; the wolves eventually appeared at the door but were met with resistance.

A poster from "Sing Your Song." Image from "Sing Your Song" Facebook page.

A question TB put to HB about SP still rankles. Essentially, the talk show host wondered whether HB harbored any resentment toward his friend, whose career went further, presumably because it was not interfered with by a pursuit of justice. The subtext was that SP, too, should have been on the frontline. Woolgathering before speaking, HB said, “In a vineyard, there are many varieties of grapes,” stressing that SP always answered his call. Further, he gave TS to know, that had he concentrated more on his career there are many people whom he would not have met; his life would not be as rich as it is. He would have had far “less fun.”

Many of the Hollywood stars – particularly nonblack ones – participated in the March on Washington at HB’s behest. The likes of Paul Newman, M.Brando (of course), Charlton Heston, Walter Matthau and others. In attendance at a concert before the march were the likes of Tony Bennett and Peter Paul and Mary.

HB’s activism also extended to Africa. Interestingly, it was Eleanor Roosevelt who helped him understand and appreciate the continent’s true place in and importance to human history. Fairly common knowledge is his involvement in the fight against South African apartheid and to free Nelson Mandela.

Not so commonly known is his work in the 60s to help Kenya. He was, for example, instrumental in arranging for a group of young Kenyans to be educated in the United States who were to return to their country to help build it after colonial rule. One of those students was Barack Obama Sr.

The names most closely associated with the “We Are the World” initiative are Michael Jackson and QJ. It was HB, however, who took the idea to QJ and who helped arrange the attendance of the staggering amount of A-list talent in that studio on that fateful day. Once again, he was content to be in the background.

Though “Sing Your Song” is about HB’s contribution to making the world a better place through art and activism, it never comes across as self-congratulatory. Quite the contrary, it is revelatory. How many people know that HB was the first recording artist to have a platinum album (“Calypso”)? Or the first black person to win an Emmy (“Tonight with Belafonte”)?

Harry Belafonte today and a younger version of himself at the start of his career. Photo from Getty Images.

Doubtless, HB has worked harder than most for the cause of justice and peace. How is it then, TS, asked that he is not bitter in this age of assaults on the causes – particularly unions and civil rights – for which he fought so stridently. HB’s response, not surprisingly, was nuanced.

“I really have no time to waste, and bitterness takes away too much valuable energy that can go to fixing problems.” Anger, though, is quite another matter. “Anger,“ HB said, “is good because it helps you find solutions to these problems.”

“Sing Your Song” only loses traction when HB alludes to his three marriages (that latest was to Pamela Frank in 2008). The introduction of these three women, two the mother of HB’s four children, is clumsy and clunky. In one breath, HB is discussing events of the day and in the next he discloses that he has married or divorced.

Thankfully, these events take up very little time in an otherwise stirring, engaging film.

Visit http://http://www.tribecafilm.com/ to learn more about the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival.

TFF: Discordant 'When the Drum Is Beating'

The trumpet section of Septentrional during a concert in Plain du Nord, Haiti. Photo by Daniel Morel.

“WHEN the Drum Is Beating” does a competent job of recalling the devastating effects that colonial rule, neo-colonial rule, corrupt dictators, poor fiscal policies, outside meddling and so forth have had on Haiti, the so-called poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Indeed, “When the Drum Is Beating” is a handy cliffnotes version of Haitian history. The footage of the acute poverty and squalor of this once beautiful country is affecting.

The documentary, making its world premiere at the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, also tells a story of the country’s beloved 20-piece band, Septentrional, famous for its Haitian Voodoo beats and Cuban big band rhythms. Various members who have joined this institution since its founding in 1948 recount what it means to be a part of it. They express their hopes, dreams; they bellyache. Some have ambivalence about changes in the band; others express the necessity of it.

“When the Drum Is Beating” tells the story of the country and the band. Why then does it not resonate. Why is it not gripping?

For one, it fails to live up to its basic premise of explaining how the band has survived amid the country’s travails. Rather than interweaving these events, it tells them in a parallel fashion. It’s akin to watching tennis players trade volleys. On this side, a little piece of the country’s history. On the other, a few words from a band member or a rehearsal scene.

Ulick Pierre-Louis has been a member of Septentrional since its founding. Photo by Daniel Morel.

“When the Drum Is Beating” almost feels like two, separate documentaries. Events in the country and the band’s evolution against this backdrop are twain that rarely meet. On one rare occasion when they do – something about a song paying tribute to François "Papa Doc" Duvalier – it’s a passing mention that deserves a much fuller explanation. Here was an opportunity for director Whitney Dow to reveal something with real substance.

Speaking of revelations, the Haitian history in this film does not advance beyond anything one might learn from a Haitian schoolgirl or Wikipedia. The two biggest failures, however, of “When the Drum Is Beating” are its tendency to tell a lot more than it shows. On too many occasions someone is jawing about doing something, rather than being shown to be doing the thing.

Septentrional circa 1955. The band was formed in 1948. Photo courtesy of Orchestre Septentrional.

The film also falls short in its treatment of Septentrional. Too much time is spent on showing the band in rehearsals. Alas, the rehearsals do not hint at the great musicianship of these talented musicians. Further, Septentrional is reportedly beloved in Haiti, particularly in the north, yet one does not get this impression. Two pieces of concert footage don’t advance this notion either. Lacking more concert footage – and why is there not more? – this sense could have been conveyed through conversations with fans. Inexplicably, WD neglects to do this.

While well-intentioned and reverent, “When the Drum Is Beating” is ultimately unsatisfactory.

Additional screenings of “When the Drum Is Beating”:
Saturday, 30 April at 3 p.m. at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas

Visit http://http://www.tribecafilm.com/ to learn more about the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival.

TFF: Unusual Tale of Africa in 'Grey Matter'

Balthazar (Herve Kimenyi) will not allow a lack of financing to put the breaks on his first film in "Grey Matter." Photo by Ari Wegner.

THERE’S been much ado about the fact that newcomer Kivu Ruhorahoza’s “Grey Matter (Matiere Grise)” is the first film from a Rwandan director who actually lives in the country or who lived in the country at the time he made the film. The reserved, sad-eyed young star-on-the-rise has a residence in London.

One supposes that this would be considered remarkable. Even more remarkable, however, is the subject matter.

The film that financially strapped director, Balthazar (Herve Kimenyi), shoots takes on a life of its own in “Grey Matter,” which had its world premiere yesterday at the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival. The film within a film, touchingly and affectingly explores the post-traumatic stress syndrome suffered by Yvan (Shami Bizimana) in the aftermath of the Rwandan civil war and genocide. He and his sister, Justine (Ruth Shanel Nirere), are the sole survivors of their family, which included prominent activist parents. They are two young people alone in a culture that prizes family.

Yvan spends his days and night in the sparsely and shabbily furnished home he shares with his younger sister. Wearing a helmet he refuses to remove, he whiles away the hours painting the same photo over and over. That is, when he is not seeing burning bodies, rape and torture.

Nothing Yvan does - praying to Allah, fondling rosary beads, dousing fire on a TV screen projecting burning bodies - can erase the images. No amount of encouragement Justine gives or the sacrifice she makes to ensure that he gets visits and pills from a doctor help either. Yvan’s world is very small, insular and solitary; it is as if he is trying to live as he imagines a cockroach would. It is this disparaging term that the majority Hutus used to refer to the minority Tutsis.

Most remarkable of all is that Yvan was in Belgium when the atrocities occurred. He was not there! How, then, can he be so affected? It is a riveting performance by SB. He lays himself bear as a young man who is almost rendered prostrate with anxiety and inertia. He is unafraid to cry, wail, curl up in the fetal position, to run and hide.

As Justine, the gorgeous doe-eyed RSN is effective in a restrained performance. Justine, too, has suffered and is still suffering atrocities, but keeps a cool exterior, making one wonder when/if she will blow her top.

Kivu Ruhorahoza, writer, director and producer of "Grey Matter." Photo by Eljah Molanba Tanda.

"Grey Matter" is not the sort of personal psychological study one is accustomed to seeing out of Africa. Most of the few that address such issues usually revolve around the effects on Europeans or nominally address the effects on Africans through the eyes of Europeans. Here is an African meltdown told from the point of view of an African by an African.

One can safely assert that “Grey Matter” is inspired by KR’s life. During the war, he was almost 12 and living with his grandmother in a western province of the country near Congo. He was in touch with his family by phone and could hear the “terror” in their voices. He internalized this, KR told the audience during a Q&A following the screening.

Once the war was over and KR returned home - his family survived but families of some of his friends did not - no one talked about the war. “We are the Japanese of Africa,” he said in reference to that group’s well-documented stoicism among Asian peoples.

In response to a query about whether "Grey Matter" could cause upset when it is shown in Rwanda, KR noted that his country must come to terms with the after-affects of the war. “Grey Matter,” the director disclosed, has been cathartic for him. He hopes it will be so, too, for his countrymen.

With such a weighty subject out of the way, KR can “go and make nothing but cartoons,” though he is working on a screenplay about sexuality - a taboo subject in Rwanda, if there ever was one.

Additional screenings of “Grey Matter”:
Saturday, 30 April at 9:30 p.m. at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas

Stay tuned for more from the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival http://http://www.tribecafilm.com/).

TFF: In 'Neon Flesh,' a Gift for Mama

Mario Casas as Ricky in "Neon Flesh (Carne de Neon)." Photo courtesy Tribeca Film Festival.

WHAT better way for a street kid to welcome mother, a prostitute, back into a warm embrace after a stretch in prison than to open up a brothel as a homecoming present?

It’s easy, too: Occupy – and it is not clear whether you are leasing or squatting – an abandoned, dilapidated building and gussy it up. Of course, if you run a brothel you need girls. To that end, you buy them on the sex trafficking mart, that is if you don’t get them direct from the sea.

Much of the action in “Neon Flesh (Carne de Neon)” revolves around these events. Spanish director Paco Cabezas’ film, making its North American premiere at the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, nicely lives up to its premise. It is indeed stylish and full of wild humor, much of it informed by the struggles that Ricky (Mario Casas heading a strong cast) faces in opening up the “Hiroshima.”

One quibble with “Neon Flesh” is the melting away of a language barrier a little too quickly. Another: some of the violence is gratuitous and cartoonish.

The broadly drawn characters in this stew are the types of lowlifes, cretins, pawns and cut-throats that populate Elmore Leonard novels. Not surprisingly, women get no respect but they are survivors.

Additional screenings of "Neon Flesh" at the Tribeca Film Festival:
Saturday, 23 April at 11:30 p.m./Clearview Cinemas Chelsea
Thursday, 28 April at 11:59 p.m./Clearview Cinemas Chelsea
Friday, 29 April at 5:30 p.m./Clearview Cinemas Chelsea

Stay tuned for more from the 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival http://http://www.tribecafilm.com/).