The Harder They Come (1973)

I've wanted to see The Harder They Come for a while, mostly because it was supposedly responsible for putting reggae on the map. Since Criterion recently gave advance notice their disc is going out of print, I figured there's no better time to check it out. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from the film, but I came away slightly disappointed.

For one, the film had a very small budget, and it really shows. None of the actors seem to be professional. This wouldn't be a problem in, say, a Bresson film, but in The Harder They Come, they're really the heart of the story and it sucks to see them delivering such amateur, film school-style performances. The plot is stretched wafer-thin, and there's very little to keep you interested in it. It starts off slow, then slightly picks up a little ways into the film, but never really gets off the ground, I felt.

The music, however, was great. The handful of songs are incredibly catchy, and will probably be stuck in my head for days. It wouldn't be bad if the film were entirely focused on the music, but it seems to be more focused on Ivan's blaxploitation-style journey, which just isn't compelling.

One thing the movie does right, though, is showing the side of Jamaica that most people don't get to see. We're used to seeing beachside shanties, and luxurious resorts and mixed drinks in the sun. However, the film portrays it much closer to what I'd imagine the truth was, a gritty, poverty-stricken shantytown, where the residents are all struggling to make ends meet.

And don't even get me started on the dialect used. I imagine it's for realism, but you can't understand anything being said. Within the first sentence spoken, I turned the subs on and I kept them on. Didn't bother me much, but I can only imagine how it must've been to see the movie in its original run, without the aid of subtitles.