THE HARDER THEY COME (1972, Jamaica). Starring Jimmy Cliff. Let me Reggae’l you with a tale…of a young Jamaican man named Ivan, played by the Reggae star Jimmy Cliff, who relocates to the city of Kingston, Jamaica from the countryside following the death of his grandmother. Initially unequipped for the hardships and pitfalls of city life, he struggles to make ends meet in the shantytown. He courts a reverend’s daughter and believes that making a record will be his path to a better life. When he finally gets his chance, however, he discovers that the record companies are just as cutthroat as everything else in the city. Discouraged and angered by the injustice and financial stratification that he encounters in the city, he begins his descent into criminal life, which he does first by hacking a man’s face off in a fight over a bicycle, and then by working his way into the marijuana trade. When he encounters similar injustice in the criminal world, he refuses to accept the situation, and quickly makes enemies on both sides of the law. As his crime spree and notoriety escalate, however, the record company re-releases his record, entitled “The Harder They Come,” and he becomes something akin to folk hero. Although The Harder They Come is one of the most internationally successful Jamaican films of all time and has developed a cult following among the Reggae and marijuana using communities, in my opinion, it’s more significant as a cultural document than as entertainment. It was obviously filmed on a low budget and the acting and camera-work are often amateurish to the point that it was Jamaican me crazy. The plot is very basic, which is probably for the best, since the Jamaican Patois language spoken throughout the film is almost entirely unintelligible. Puzzlingly, only portions of the film are subtitled in the theatrical release. One of the more interesting aspects of the film is its no-nonsense depiction of life in the poverty and crime-ridden Kingston shantytowns. It is neither sugarcoated nor exploited. A consequence is that, during the film’s slower moments, it plays like a documentary. In the instances where this aspect of the film is successfully integrated into the plot and action, however, it plays more like an amateurish City of God. The real reason to watch this film is the soundtrack, which is incredible. Featuring hit music by pioneering Reggae stars Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and Desmond Dekker among others, this film is largely the reason that the United States became aware and interested in Reggae music. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the finest moment of the film is Jimmy Cliff’s orgasmic recording session in the studio, where he cuts the film’s title track (please reference the link below). SPOILER: Personally, I was hoping for a Cliff-hanger ending, but they shot him instead. -MOJO HAND youtube/watch?v=80op5z9yHTU
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 03:09:09 +0000
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