ironhorse_iv Review of Countryman

Countryman (1982)

Countryman. You're Jamaican me crazy! What a bizarre watch, this is!

[6/10 · 26 September 2019]

Yah Mon! This is one weird movie from Island Pictures! Directed by Dickie Jobson & shot in Jamaica, the film tells the story of poor mystic fisherman (Countryman aka Edwin Lothan) whom is hurled into a natural crisis when he rescues & hides supposedly American CIA agent Bobby Lloyd (Hiram Keller) and his pilot Beau Porter (Kristina St. Clair) in the thick jungle away from the local corrupt government trying to use them as leverage in a close political election. Without spoiling the movie too much, to truly understand what this confusing movie was going for, one must be familiar with the island's history toward inequality & its religious beliefs in Rastafari. If not, it will be really hard to follow. During the 1980s when this movie was made, Jamaicans saw the decline of people expanding their levity or life force. Enthusiasm for levity or every lasting righteous living was likely dampened by the death of Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie in 1975. Many Jamaicans saw him as a messianic figure who could lead them to a golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity. Following his demise, people within the movement look up to singer Bob Marley as the next leader. Not only was his music popular around the world, but many of his practices follow the Rastas beliefs. Nevertheless, he was also an outspoken supporter of the Democratic socialism & critic of the conservative labor parties until his death in 1981 from skin cancer. His involvement marked the beginning of a period of political violence within Jamaica as each group hired local gangsters to help them increase their hold on power. To make it worst, the CIA got involved many times, often providing aid due to the fear of Cuban-style communist government. This is the world where the audience is inducted to. The radio broadcast throughout the film does a good job establishing the surroundings, but even with that, unfortunately, the film never figure out its political confusions. After all, why on the earth would Countryman help a foreign agency member get away, when in real-life, they're the ones helping to keep the poor down? Nor does it explain well why the government want the agent put on trial when they're secretly in cahoots with each other? Sadly, the story nor the characters don't really tell us much about that. Plus, the patois spoken can be a bit thin. Don't get me wrong, all of the nonprofessional performers involved were not that bad in acting, but I can see why subtitles were added to the DVD version of this film. The guy playing Countryman's mentor, Jahman is by far the hardest to understand as he mumbles most of his lines. As for the non-local performers, Hiram Keller was kinda forgettable in the role. As for his wife actress Kristina St. Clair, her character was pretty much a dumb damsel in distress simpleton. Nothing too amazing with her. I think the only person that they got her in the film was the fact that she was willing to show some skin. After all, the whole topless scene in the beginning was honestly not really needed. Nevertheless, the actor playing the titular character was pretty good. While, he had no formal education, he was intelligent enough to come across as somebody deep rather than nuts. People in Jamaica were drawn to him instantly to the point that he became somewhat a local icon after Bob Marley's death in the Rastas community, even if his character didn't follow all the beliefs. After all, he did bribe a cop. Nevertheless, he was a mostly a highly respectful character. Still, the filmmakers did make him somewhat laughable during the action sequences. The whole mystical powers slow motion running to the jailhouse was just way too drawn out despite the film's superbly lush landscape cinematography. Another scene that was a bit much for me to take was him able to lift heavy objects like people and throwing them in the dark. It was not well choreographic. It was unrealistic fake and rough looking. Nevertheless, most of the scenes with him with the villain, Mosman (Freshey Richardson) were fine, even if the hawk attacking scene was kinda tacky. Their epic final encounter at the cliff side kinda made up for it. I just wish they establish more of a link to him and the guy that represent the Angel of Death. That was somewhat jarring. As for the reggae music performed by Lee "Scratch" Perry, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Steel Pulse, Dennis Brown, Aswad, Toots & the Maytals and Rico Rodriguez throughout the film. They oddly don't really match well with what's happening on scene. It too was problematic. Overall: It's still quite a watchable movie even with the surrealism. In the end, it's just irie.