Sidney Poitier is Sidney himself, and that’s what makes the Apple documentary about his life and legacy so fascinating. The film “Sidney” premiered on September 9th, 2022 during the Toronto International Film Festival. The Hollywood reporter revealed that Derik Murray, the co-producer first presented this idea to Poitier and his wife Joanna Shimkus in 2018 summer. Reginald Hudlin signed on as the director in the fall of 2019, then in June 2020 he had a Zoom call with Oprah and her team at Harpo where he pitched his movie.
We are all familiar with Poitier’s films, while Sidney does an admirable job of chronicling the Oscar-winning star’s career. But little do most know – this is precisely what the documentary examines – from country boy living on Cat Island in The Bahamas to relocating to Miami before finally coming to New York City; journeying through a world (and industry) largely dominated by white people. Combining archival footage, Poitier narrating his own storylines, family stories including interviews with entertainment legends inspired by him, Sidney moves back and forth between American history and culture alongside key political moments throughout Poitier’s career.
At first Sid began talking about how he was not expected to live after being born two months early. His voice played out in narration over pictures of him acting taken from photoshoots for magazines or stills from some of his movies or just other images related with his work like this one showing him alone inside a cinema hall until now there might be a suggestion of something like an obituaries reel which might be quite understandable bearing in mind that Poiter died sometime last year but shortly afterwards appearing on screen was a real-time face of him it was surprising this way reminding us that we are here due to not only death but life itself because Sidney is an intimate portrait of a particular ordinary man who has defied all odds to achieve something extraordinary.
According to Deadline, the “now” interviews with Poitier featured in Sidney were actually taken from eight hours of this footage that he had filmed during 2012 for an episode of Oprah’s Master Class on OWN (which she admitted very few persons have seen). This is a strong resource that suits Apple’s docudrama well as it helps in highlighting some of the most terrible moments in Poirot’s life such as his encounters with KKK or an incident where a white police officer based in Florida threatened him by pointing a gun at his head. Listening to these memories from the mouth of a master storyteller nothing but gift gives us hope and a testimony about Sidney as well as respect for Poiter. It is his life and this story definitely belongs to him alone. Additionally, there are interviews with Sidney’s first wife Juanita Hardy and his daughters; celebrities talk about their mentor (from Halle Berry, Denzel Washington up till Morgan Freeman, and Oprah) only to fill in gaps on whom we would never know existed if not for Poitier’s influence.
One of the important moments in Sidney’s life and Hollywood history that Poitier highlights was his reception of an Honorary Academy Award in 2001. This was after he had already won Best Actor in 1963 for Lilies of the Field, making him the first black man to have ever received such a prestigious award (and just the second black actor ever to win an Oscar after Hattie McDaniel). But both Berry and Washington notably went on to collect Best Actress and Best Actor trophies respectively within a similar year when Sidney got his Honorary Academy Award. In this film individually, both actors reveal what a great night it was for them personally because they grew up watching Poitier movies as one of their role models and parents who paved ways for himself in Hollywood at a time when African-American actors were generally stereotyped or treated like “nothing else.”
Sidney has ultimately depicted somebody who is really moving forward ahead with life; that is how Poitier resembles in the painting: he walked merely because there was no space left for him, his art, or even those who looked like him. As much as he is revered as an actor and entertainer, Poitier made significant contributions towards the civil rights movement. Yet again Sidney emphasizes another key point which took place during the period he turned down acting part offered to him by The Phenix City Story due to improper treatment of African American characters — something that was rare among most blacks’ actors back then before it became a blockbuster film some years later. However, He stuck with his principles
These days lots of things are described as “revolutionary” without true meaning but this is actually the best term for characterizing Poitier as an artist and activist. And yet all these times Sidney triumphs to remind us why exactly this word suits him so well.
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