Race and Belonging: A Review of Recently Issued National Film Board Dvds‪.‬

Race is a Four-Letter Word. Written and directed by Sobaz Benjamin. Produced by Annette Clarke. National Film Board of Canada, 2006.55 mins, 19 secs, Language: English. Full Screen, $59.95. Closed captioned--decoder required. Dolby sound. This film is a collage of autobiographical and biographical narratives combined with artistic performances on the complex issue of race, racism, and identity in contemporary Canadian society. The director and narrator is a young black radio show host who presents the audience with a personal journey of exploration to address his own demons centering on race and belonging. He interweaves his story with those of three others: a young black Caribbean woman from England who moved to Canada to escape British racism; a young black Canadian female performance artist who reacts to the dominant racialized aesthetic of beauty as white; and an aging white, male artist who was raised by a black family and sees himself as more attached to blackness as an identity than whiteness.