Brief
Skip to main content Skip to navigation Close dialogue 1 / 1 Next image Previous image Toggle caption Print subscriptions Search jobs Sign in Eur Europe edition UK edition US edition Australia edition International edition The Guardian - Back to home The Guardian News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show more Hide expanded menu News View all News World news UK news Climate crisis Ukraine Environment Science Global development Football Tech Business Obituaries Opinion View all Opinion The Guardian view Columnists Cartoons Opinion videos Letters Sport View all Sport Football Cricket Rugby union Tennis Cycling F1 Golf US sports Culture View all Culture Books Music TV & radio Art & design Film Games Classical Stage Lifestyle View all Lifestyle Fashion Food Recipes Love & sex Health & fitness Home & garden Women Men Family Travel Money Search input google-search Search Support us Print subscriptions Search jobs Holidays Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Newsletters Today's paper Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Wordiply Corrections Tips Search input google-search Search Search jobs Holidays Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us UK UK politics Education Media Society Law Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Deep wounds … Bel. Photograph: Euan Robertson View image in fullscreen Deep wounds … Bel. Photograph: Euan Robertson Film Review Bel review – the powerful life force and haunting absence of a traumatised singer-songwriter Beldina Odenyo alchemised the pain of exile, loss and racism into music as Heir of the Cursed before her death in 2021, as this attentive tribute explores Phil Hoad Mon 31 Aug 2026 10.00 CEST Last modified on Mon 31 Aug 2026 10.02 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google I nstead of an artist in a booth, a lone amplifier plays the music of singer-songwriter Beldina Odenyo for a cluster of microphones to pick up during the posthumous recording of her debut album. It is a haunting encapsulation of the absence and presence at the heart of Louise Lockwood’s documentary, which makes a commendably thorough exploration of the mental illness that led to Odenyo killing herself in November 2021, and its roots: exile, loss and racism. Performing under the moniker Heir of the Cursed, a translation of the Tetela name of assassinated Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba , Odenyo was on the verge of bigger recognition at the end of 2021 after a successful performance at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall. But hemmed in by successive Covid lockdowns, the 31-year-old is clearly unwell in a discomfiting backstage interview. Squirming, monosyllabic, she seems to be regressing to the non-verbal state of shock in which she arrived in Dumfriesshire from Kenya as a young child. Lockwood’s film plays as if Orpheus was the one being rescued from the underworld. As well as gathering Odenyo’s demos into a finished album, her half-sister Leah attempts to reconstitute her sibling, her traumas and her life force. Being ripped away from Kenya and her mother, who later died prematurely, is clearly at the heart of things. The harassment and violent physical abuse, including being set on fire, that she encountered in the village of Kirkconnell and nearby Dumfries deepened the wound – as did losing another sister to leukaemia. She might have been a born musician, but having to alchemise this pain gives Odenyo double the force; her keening top range recalls PJ Harvey, but she frequently dips into the kind of baleful quaver Nina Simone once knocked audiences flat with. With her singing face sometimes a rictus, Odenyo felt no obligation to pander to her audience, as poet Jackie Kay notes here. But visibility – part of her curse growing up in Dumfriesshire, but a source of connection on stage – remained a profoundly ambivalent matter. She wrestled, like Kurt Cobain, with the idea of commercialising her inner woes. Compelled to keep mining that source, especially in the pandemic pressure cooker, she starts to experience music as a chore. In the end, it’s not enough to save her; the Usher Hall triumph seems like it happened by dying force of will. As well as being an attentive tribute, Lockwood’s film weighs up the compulsive and healing halves of art; it is Orphic to a fault. Bel is at Filmhouse, Edinburgh , from 4 September, then tours. Explore more on these topics Film Music documentary Documentary films Kenya Scotland reviews Share Reuse this content Most viewed Most viewed UK UK politics Education Media Society Law Scotland Wales Northern Ireland News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email About us Help Complaints & corrections Contact us Tip us off SecureDrop Privacy policy Cookie policy Tax strategy Terms & conditions All topics All writers Newsletters Digital newspaper archive Bluesky Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Threads TikTok YouTube Advertise with us Search UK jobs Tips Accessibility settings Work with us Back to top © 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)
Original source
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/31/bel-review-belinda-odenyo-heir-of-the-cursed
Comments
No comments yet.
Sign in to comment.