Cinema
Countryman
Dickie Jobson · 1982
Synopsis
Countryman, a Rastafarian fisherman who lives alone on a beach on the coast, sees the small plane of two young Americans, Bobby and Beau, crash, and takes them in. On the eve of the elections, Colonel Sinclair wants to pass them off as agents who have come to deliver weapons and drugs, in order to discredit the opposition; hunted, the two foreigners have no guide but their rescuer, who knows the terrain and seems to draw his strength from a mystical bond with nature.
Context
The film was the first from the cinema branch of Island Records, whose founder, Chris Blackwell, produced it; the screenplay is by the director and Michael Thomas. The lead role goes to a fisherman from Hellshire beach, known by that one name only. The music is by Wally Badarou, the soundtrack draws on Bob Marley, the Maytals, Steel Pulse and Lee Perry, and the images are by the French cinematographer Dominique Chapuis. It was released in March 1982, dedicated to the memory of Bob Marley.
Who it is for
In English and Jamaican Creole, one hundred and two minutes. The film is closer to an experience than to a story and asks the viewer to accept the mystical side of its hero.
Prizes and reception
Presented at Cannes, it became a cult film, which critics rank now among B movies, now among arthouse films.
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