Life and Debt (2003)

Life and Debt @ Amazon
Set to a beguiling reggae beat, Life and Debt takes as its subject Jamaica's economic decline in the 20th century. The story has reverberations in the plight of other third-world nations blindsided by globalization, like Ghana and Haiti. After England granted Jamaica independence in 1962, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in with a series of loans. These loans came with strings attached--the kind that would eventually plunge the country $7 billion into debt, stranded without the resources to dig themselves out. Although IMF officials get the chance to have their say, it's clear where filmmaker Stephanie Black's sympathies lie--with the country's underemployed farmers and sweatshop workers. Jamaica Kinkaid (A Small Place) penned the narration, while the soundtrack features some of the "imports" with which this island nation remains mostly closely associated: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Mutabaruka, who performs the title track. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Ross Kemp on Gangs - Jamaica

Ross Kemp, a British based investigative journalist, visits Kingston, one of the most violent areas in Jamaica to dialogue with gang members, police and regular community members to understand the unique political tension that causes 'The War' to continue.


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Roots Rock Reggae - Inside the Jamaican Music Scene (1977)

Roots, Rock, Reggae presents a street-level perspective on the reggae music scene during a very important period in the evolution of reggae music. In the late 1970s, police and thieves battled in the street, politicians struggled for power and reggae musicians fought for peoples' souls. Featuring performances by seminal reggae greats from Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff to the Abyssinians and Jacob Miller, this is the only documentary on the evolution of reggae and a must for reggae's legions of fans.


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Roots Rock Reggae - Inside the Jamaican Music Scene @ Amazon

Third World Cop (1999)

Shot on the streets of Kingston and set to a rich reggae score by Sly and Robbie, the highest-grossing film in Jamaican cinema (according to the producers) is a simple cops-and-gangsters thriller that drops the usual two-fisted cop clichés into the slums of a Third World reality. Charismatic Paul Campbell (who starred in the previous Jamaican hit Dancehall Queen) is Capone, a Jamaican Dirty Harry who wades into shootouts with both guns blazing. His maverick reputation lands him in Kingston, his hometown, where he tracks a gun-smuggling scheme to his boyhood friend Ratty (Mark Danvers), now the ambitious right-hand man to the local kingpin. It's a familiar story and the timid script always chooses action over drama. Capone's violent methods are never questioned, even when he's faced with old friends instead of faceless hoods, and he's given unimaginable leeway to shoot his way through the criminal population. Shot on digital video and released to theaters in a smeary-looking transfer, the video release is mastered from the digital source and looks infinitely better than its theatrical incarnation: crisp, bright, and vivid. The energetic style helps the picture overcome some of its generic cop-movie clichés, but the real draw is the street grit of clapboard houses, corrugated metal fences, and concrete brick homes: the matter-of-fact poverty of Kingston's slums. --Sean Axmaker


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Smile Orange (1976)

Based on the stage play by director Trevor Rhone, "Smile Orange" takes a humorous and somewhat acidic view of the tourism business, mostly from the point of view of Ringo, a hustler, con man and waiter.


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Smile Orange @ Amazon

Shottas (2002)

Grammy-nominated reggae artist Kymani Marley and Jamaican dancehall star Spragga Benz star in director Cess Silvera's tale of two Kingston gangsters looking to make a name for themselves on the mean streets of Kingston. Homegrown gangsters Biggs (Marley) and Wayne (Benz) have paid their dues in Kingston, and now they've set their sights on a better life in Miami through guns and drugs.  However, they must overcome their enemies even those closest to them.


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Shottas @ Amazon

Rude Boy - The Jamaican Don (2003)

Julius St. John has big dreams of becoming the biggest reggae DJ in the U.S., but when his status is jeopardized, he makes a deal with the devil and agrees to carry a bag of contraband through customs in exchange for his papers. But what begins as a one-time deal descends into a deadly spiral that Julius cannot escape - and murder is the only way to survive.

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Rude Boy - The Jamaican Don @ Amazon