Like most "important" films, "The Harder They Come" is a flawed masterpiece whose inextricable link to a specific time and place and heavy-handed thematics are both its greatest strengths and its greatest weaknesses.
The film follows Ivan Martin, almost quite literally, as he transforms himself from a country bumpkin into an urban outlaw cum reggae star. There are precious few frames missing the amazing visage of Jimmy Cliff, but that is no shortcoming, despite the singer's lack of acting experience. He lends an immediacy to Ivan, and a impish charm, that completely wins us over, as it does almost everyone he meets in the film. The characterization of Ivan isn't particularly deep, but it does not need to be. With a few broad strokes, we understand this man.
As an anthropological exploration of early 1970s Kingston, the film also works particularly well. The squalor and desolation we see, though perhaps exaggerated, is not forced or factitious. You could not make this poverty up.
That said, this film is not timeless. It is tied so much to that specific time--the popularity of the radio DJs, the burgeoning reggae scene, the anti-authoritarian themes--that the film does seem a little quaint.
Nor is the outlaw as folk-hero tale anything new to American audiences. The film makes no pretense that it should seem unique, though, as it clearly draws our attention to its debt to the Hollywood western.
Nevertheless, the film is an incredible success. The acting, especially by Jimmy Cliff, is exuberant as are the sights that unfold before the audience. And this energy is of course paralleled by an amazing score. If you cannot appreciate the joy and sweat that has gone into this music, your ears are closed. Look to the scenes of Ivan recording his hit song--and the other scenes of artists recording their works--and you will find something sublime that no amount of acting could create. Its immediate and visceral and on its own is enough to recommend this film.
I have a friend who has studied filmwriting in school and dislikes this movie immensely because, he claims, the movie lacks the techniques one usually finds in well written and well made films. Though I understand his point of view, I think it is too much skewed by mechanics. A film can have an aura and atmosphere that can overcome any number of technical faults. I believe this is one of those films.
The film follows Ivan Martin, almost quite literally, as he transforms himself from a country bumpkin into an urban outlaw cum reggae star. There are precious few frames missing the amazing visage of Jimmy Cliff, but that is no shortcoming, despite the singer's lack of acting experience. He lends an immediacy to Ivan, and a impish charm, that completely wins us over, as it does almost everyone he meets in the film. The characterization of Ivan isn't particularly deep, but it does not need to be. With a few broad strokes, we understand this man.
As an anthropological exploration of early 1970s Kingston, the film also works particularly well. The squalor and desolation we see, though perhaps exaggerated, is not forced or factitious. You could not make this poverty up.
That said, this film is not timeless. It is tied so much to that specific time--the popularity of the radio DJs, the burgeoning reggae scene, the anti-authoritarian themes--that the film does seem a little quaint.
Nor is the outlaw as folk-hero tale anything new to American audiences. The film makes no pretense that it should seem unique, though, as it clearly draws our attention to its debt to the Hollywood western.
Nevertheless, the film is an incredible success. The acting, especially by Jimmy Cliff, is exuberant as are the sights that unfold before the audience. And this energy is of course paralleled by an amazing score. If you cannot appreciate the joy and sweat that has gone into this music, your ears are closed. Look to the scenes of Ivan recording his hit song--and the other scenes of artists recording their works--and you will find something sublime that no amount of acting could create. Its immediate and visceral and on its own is enough to recommend this film.
I have a friend who has studied filmwriting in school and dislikes this movie immensely because, he claims, the movie lacks the techniques one usually finds in well written and well made films. Though I understand his point of view, I think it is too much skewed by mechanics. A film can have an aura and atmosphere that can overcome any number of technical faults. I believe this is one of those films.