Bel film review: A moving, fragmentary portrait
An inevitably incomplete arc propels this document of the Kenyan-Scottish musician, poet, singer and songwriter Beldina Odenyo
The Film Festival’s closing gala choice, Louise Lockwood’s documentary recounts the life of Kenyan-Scottish musician, poet, singer and songwriter Beldina Odenyo. Tipped for great things, Odenyo tragically took her own life at the age of just 31. Using video diaries, original footage and interviews with those who knew her, Lockwood builds an inevitably fragmentary portrait of a soul with a painfully incomplete narrative arc.
Lockwood’s film is bookended with footage of Odenyo’s striking appearance as Heir Of The Cursed at the Scottish Album Of The Year Award ceremony in 2021. Performing a cover of Kathryn Joseph’s ‘The Bird’, Odenyo had not turned up for rehearsals, yet her performance is electric; there’s no explanation as to why this career breakthrough was followed by that decision to end her life just weeks later.
Odenyo is captured as a luminous character with deep insecurities, expressed and exposed in music which is platformed here on a track by track basis, hopefully raising awareness of her work. Odenyo talks about not wanting to be remembered for words other than her own, and so watching a finale in which she performs someone else’s song reminds the viewer that success rarely comes on an artist’s terms.
Bel was reviewed as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival.