Kelly WandRockers
December 30th 2006 02:57
“Rockers” is a low budget Jamaican movie based around the edges of the music industry. Its story telling is primitive, its acting is woeful and its direction is barely existent. Its subtitles merely clarify the words that are spoken but offer nothing by way of translation. And yet, it is a great film to watch.
The music is fantastic and you can quite happily watch this film as a series of performances from the top talents of Reggae music. Too often, when you see music on film, the film maker has no faith in what he or she is shooting. Rather than see strength in the actual performance, the music is “enhanced” by lightening fast editing. Well, here is a film that realises the music on the screen is good enough to risk an extended shot.
However, the real eye opener is in the fictional part of the film. You cannot help but feel you are in the company of real people doing real things. These aren’t just some dumb sets, the camera has just been set up in Trenchtown and left to run. Maybe it is just because their world is so alien to ours both in location and time that it becomes so fascinating to watch. Maybe not. There is just so much joy and flash that you can’t help but involve yourself in the story.
What’s the story? Horsemouth begs and borrows to get a bike so he can distribute records. The bike is stolen by a gang run by a corrupt business man. Horsemouth takes his bike back and is beaten up for his troubles. The community gets together to make things right. See, I told you there wasn’t much of a story.
However, when your speakers start pumping out Peter Tosh’s “Stepping Razor” to a montage of everyone joining up to take their final revenge, you’ll become a believer. It isn’t nearly as good as Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” but you can’t have everything. You should, however, take a chance and rent this instead of insulting yourself with the latest vacuous Hollywood blockbuster.
The music is fantastic and you can quite happily watch this film as a series of performances from the top talents of Reggae music. Too often, when you see music on film, the film maker has no faith in what he or she is shooting. Rather than see strength in the actual performance, the music is “enhanced” by lightening fast editing. Well, here is a film that realises the music on the screen is good enough to risk an extended shot.
However, the real eye opener is in the fictional part of the film. You cannot help but feel you are in the company of real people doing real things. These aren’t just some dumb sets, the camera has just been set up in Trenchtown and left to run. Maybe it is just because their world is so alien to ours both in location and time that it becomes so fascinating to watch. Maybe not. There is just so much joy and flash that you can’t help but involve yourself in the story.
What’s the story? Horsemouth begs and borrows to get a bike so he can distribute records. The bike is stolen by a gang run by a corrupt business man. Horsemouth takes his bike back and is beaten up for his troubles. The community gets together to make things right. See, I told you there wasn’t much of a story.
However, when your speakers start pumping out Peter Tosh’s “Stepping Razor” to a montage of everyone joining up to take their final revenge, you’ll become a believer. It isn’t nearly as good as Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” but you can’t have everything. You should, however, take a chance and rent this instead of insulting yourself with the latest vacuous Hollywood blockbuster.
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