Page 14 - aruba-today-20220922

A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Thursday 22 sepTember 2022
Sidney Poitier documentary shows a constant striving

By MARK KENNEDY button-down shirt flaw- reader he admired. ing in “The Defiant Ones,” tive, showing a star-pulling
AP Entertainment Writer lessly elegant, as always. The filmmakers have a chained and helping a flex but with little connec-
Sidney Poitier was not ex- Sometimes old interviews charismatic change-maker white Tony Curtis, or for tion to the man. Barbra
pected to live. He was born are added from a younger as their focus, but credit loving a white woman in Streisand adds little “He
two months premature to was like, Wow!’ Movie stars
uneducated tomato farm- should be, ‘Wow!’” and
ers in the Caribbean. His fa- we learn that Halle Berry
ther planned to use a shoe wanted to marry him.
box as a makeshift coffin. Even Oprah seems a little
Poitier’s rise from that hum- suspect interviewing her-
ble origin to become an self but she makes it count
Oscar-winning box office when she recalls meeting
draw and civil rights figure Poitier for the first time at
who remade Hollywood her 42nd birthday, a time
seems almost scripted, al- in her life when she was be-
most too good to be true, ing criticized by the Black
but such was Poitier, a life community for not doing
well lived. enough, just as Poitier had
The new documentary been. For those unfamiliar
“Sidney” respectfully traces with some of Poitier’s more
that life, delivering a por- famous moments, news of
trait of a striver hoping to a pivotal slap will come as
improve everything he did a surprise. Fifty-five years
every day. “I truly, truly try before Will Smith smacked
to be better tomorrow than Chris Rock at the Oscars,
I was today,” he says to the Poitier’s Detective Virgil
camera. Tibbs slapped an actor
Written by Jesse James This image released by Apple shows actor Sidney Poitier from the documentary “Sidney.” playing a white plantation
Miller and directed by Associated Press owner onscreen in the film
Reginald Hudlin, “Sidney” “In the Heat of the Night.”
is executive produced by It was electrifying, coming
Oprah Winfrey who lent Poitier, making it seem as if to them for also exploring “Guess Who’s Coming to in 1967 as the civil rights
several hours of her own he is in conversation with when he missed his high Dinner?” The pioneer be- movement was reaching its
interviews with Poitier and himself. ethical standards, as when came passe as Black mili- heights. Listening to how if
members of his family. It Highlights include the dev- he had a long affair with Di- tancy grew strength. profoundly affected future
glows with respect for a astating confrontation with ahann Carroll, triggering a So Poitier pivoted to di- Black stars is powerful.
man who earned it. racism as a teen in Miami, divorce that split the family. recting and producing, still Another rich vein is re-
Poitier became the first the fun story of his first en- Poitier’s moral compass helping others up the lad- vealed in the relationship
Black actor to win an counter with a subway and was stronger than most. der. between Poitier and Bella-
Academy Award for best how a classified ad look- Early in his career, he turned The film benefits from the fonte, which one of the for-
lead performance and the ing for actors changed his down an exploitative part, candid memories of Poiti- mer’s child likens to having
first to be a top box-office life. “I can be many things an unheard of decision at er’s children and ex-wife, as the dynamic of an old mar-
draw. He died earlier this here,” he thought. Tossed the time. And then after he well as friends like Morgan ried couple. They bonded,
year at 94. out of the American Negro had made his way to the Freeman, Harry Bellafon- they fought, they recon-
For much of the film, a grey- Theater for being lousy, he top and opened the door te, Quincy Jones, Andrew ciled, they once even out-
haired Poitier addresses the took acting classes and lost for other unrepresented Young, Spike Lee, Denzel ran the KKK. There seems
camera in a grey suit jacket his Caribbean accent by actors, he was criticized. Washington, Louis Gosset almost to be another film
with a pocket square and buying a radio for $14 and Some called him out for Jr. and Robert Redford. here about these two char-
an white open-necked learning to mimic a news- being too accommodat- Other voices are less effec- ismatic men. q

Next Miss Universe pageant to be broadcast from New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New She noted in a news re- Sandhu of India crowning
Orleans will be the site lease that former contes- the winner.
of the 71st Miss Universe tants and winners have “There is no place like New
contest, bringing together gone on to become sur- Orleans. This vibrant city
nearly 90 women con- geons, diplomats, politi- has been at the top of our
testants from around the cians and business leaders, list to host for quite some
world in January, the Miss adding “they all champion time due to its rich cultural
Universe Organization said. social causes that are im- history, as well as its unique
“The City of New Orleans portant to them.” arts, entertainment, and
and the Miss Universe Or- The competition will be culinary scene,” said Paula
ganization share common aired on Jan. 14, 2023 a Shugart, president of The
values of celebrating in- Saturday at the city’s con- Miss Universe Organization.
clusion, culture and the vention center, according Last year’s pageant in Eilat,
empowerment of wom- to the statement. The live Israel, was held in the mid-
Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza, right, crowns India’s Harnaaz en,” New Orleans Mayor broadcast will culminate dle of the night to accom-
Sandhu as Miss Universe 2021 during the 70th Miss Universe LaToya Cantrell said Mon- with the 70th Miss Universe modate the U.S. primetime

pageant, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, in Eilat, Israel.
Associated Press day. Bollywood actress Harnaaz TV schedule.q