Sidney (2022) ✦

The documentary’s most compelling narrative arc is Poitier’s "astounding self-invention". Born two months premature and raised without even seeing a mirror, Poitier arrived in Florida at age 15 with no concept of racial hierarchy. The film posits that this lack of a "racialized lens" during his formative years was his greatest asset; he didn't have to unlearn the "inferiority" that Jim Crow America sought to impose. His rise was marked by a series of deliberate choices:

The film highlights his discipline in masking his Bahamian accent by listening to radio broadcasts to master the diction that would define his screen presence. A Symbol Under Siege Sidney (2022)

He famously refused roles as servants or criminals, a radical stance in 1950s Hollywood. a radical stance in 1950s Hollywood.