Countryman, a review by Danae Cassandra
Where We Are: JamaicawikipediaWhat We Watched:
CountrymanYear of Release: 1982
Directed By: Dickie Johnson
Genre: Adventure
Starring: Countryman, Hiram Keller, Carl Bradshaw, Basil Keane, Freshey Richardson, Kristina St. Clair
Overview:Countryman is no ordinary man. He is a man of the sea, a man of knowledge, in effortless harmony with everything that lives and breathes.
A fisherman's solitary existence is shattered when an airplane crashes into a nearby swamp. By rescuing two young Americans from the wreckage, the fisherman, Countryman, becomes an unwitting player in a political plot devised by the power-hungry Colonel Sinclair. The couple and Countryman, branded by Sinclair as enemy agents, are forced to flee into the Jamaican wilderness to elude capture. The peaceful Rastafarian hero shows the Americans his knowledge of land and sea, but when violence peaks, he shows that he is capable of unleashing an awesome, almost magical display of acrobatic hand-to-hand combat.
My Thoughts:This is a beautiful, fun film with a great reggae soundtrack. If you love reggae, the soundtrack alone is worth watching the film for - Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jah Lion, Steel Pulse, Toots and The Maytals - great music that fits into the film perfectly. In fact,
Countryman is inspired by the songs of Bob Marley and the person of Countryman.
I bought this film because it was both cheaper than the Criterion release of
The Harder They Come (which I do still want), and it wasn't centered on a life of crime, but has a heroic Jamaican character. Countryman is a Rasta fisherman, a man who helps those in need, provides for his family, looks out for his friends. Yes, Countryman is a poor man, and perhaps we (and the film) are guilty of romanticizing the poor, but he is also rich in friends, in life, and in spirit.
In the featurette the director talks about the film being like
Tarzan, but while it does resemble it - a man living in harmony with nature who looks after civilized people and helps them return to civilization - this isn't a Weissmuller Tarzan film. Weissmuller's Tarzan was inarticulate and instictive, while Countryman is philosophical and spiritual. (Yes, other depictions of Tarzan are closer to Burroughs' book, but Weissmuller's is still the film icon.)
Countryman itself is also rich in spirit, in spiritual practice and symbolism. We see two different obeah men, as well as the hawk, the owl, the moon, smoke, lightning, all speaking toward the power of the natural world and the magic within it. For those who are like myself, this is a very pagan friendly film. It's also a condemnation the machinations of politics and the use of invented threat and fear to sustain those in power. But, most of all, it's a fun adventure.
Overall: 3.5/5
(From Around the World in 86 Movies on February 27th, 2012)
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May 17, 2024, 02:15:24 PM
