My parents were 50 and 43 when I was born so all my grandparents passed away before I was born or whilst I was still a toddler. During my life I have experienced the falling of the Berlin wall, the tragic death of Lady Diana and the inauguration of the first non-white President of the United States, these will be my tales to tell but I was not there in the midst of it all, I watched it on TV or read in the newspapers.
From the beginning of the film I felt like I was sat at the feet of a grandfather being told the story of his wonderful life. Mr Belafonte has encountered racial segregation of a degree I can only imagine, his determination is still present in his 80th decade, having taken part in the march to Washington, gone to Ethiopia during the 1980s famine and participated in protest marches against the war in Iraq.
As a fan of vintage films and old musicals I love Carmen Jones (1954) and Island in the Sun (1957), these and his calypso songs are what I best knew Mr Belafonte for.
Carmen Jones
Island in the Sun
After the film we were delighted when Mr Belafonte sat on the stage and answered a number of questions about his south African album with Mariam Makeba, his meeting with Malcolm X (they did not agree on racial segregation) and a lovely closing statement from an elderly Jamaican gentleman who was also a singer and poet.
I queued in line for his book My Song to be signed and the evening came to a close. This had been much more than a plugging of a film and flogging of a book, I feel I acquired an education from a man who during the Q & A said he thought himself a great actor only because he has managed to convince the world he can sing.
