Not the winner, but nominated for Best Music at this year’s Academy Awards, “Like a Bird” is a beautiful song about the inner pain and desire to be reborn a better human being that is expressed so profoundly in the movie Sing Sing. The movie is about the infamous New York prison and how art can become the means of rehabilitating oneself and attaining a new meaning of life.
In the maximum-security prison where most are “lifers” in for murder, the story is based on real situations in the prison’s theater program; through the plays staged by the program, inmates begin to develop better social skills and get involved in fewer conflicts.
There is an ancient idea that literature and art are an essential part of a person’s moral education, helping to deepen our empathy for other people.
The song by Alexander and Quesada conveys the isolation of the inmates and their desperation to be heard and given a second chance.
A masterstroke.
Related:
The Unlikely Story Behind the Oscar-Nominated Ballad From “Sing Sing” (The Texas Monthly)
Sing Sing Earns Three Academy Award Nominations
Interview: Adrian Quesada and Abraham Alexander Explain How “Like a Bird” Echoes the Message of “Sing Sing” (Awards Buzz)
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