Welcome back to the blog. You may have noticed I've started a new series, 'Place & Cinema – Jamaica & Beyond'. In this series we'll explore some Pre-Colonial and Post-Colonial Jamaican pieces of cinematic gold and dissect their presentation of place. In film, the concept of place is more than just location - it involves both intangible and tangible aspects associated with the physical location (such as culture, dialects, senses of familiarity, etc.).
The Harder They Come (1972) paints a familiar picture of post-colonial Jamaica with its rural landscape and the protagonist Ivanhoe. The film presents a biographical relationship to Jamaica as viewers will easily recognize the various sites in the film. When we first meet Ivan he is on the familiar 'country-boy goes to town' journey. We see the all too familiar colourful country bus with passengers’ luggage on top making the journey across Flat Bridge. In town we see the hustle and bustle of Downtown Kingston, an occurrence Ivan is clearly unaccustomed to.
My point of analysis today is - can your identity be affected by a place? My answer is absolutely. Prior to taking residence in the city, Ivan appears mild mannered and easy going. We see evidence of this when he talks to Elsa. However, as the movie progresses we notice that Ivan has become more hotheaded, a result of the various trials and oppositions Kingston throws at him. He gets conned and loses all his possessions, he fails to secure a job and when he does get a job working for the pastor, he gets irate with a former colleague for stealing his bike, then repeatedly slashes the man with a knife.
Henzell and Cliff's portrayal of Ivan's commodified relationship with Kingston showcases his villain origins. This relationship type is one where someone chooses a location based on personal preferences and reasons. Ivanhoe as a criminal is a product of his new urban lifestyle of aspiring artiste and drugs mule on the side. It is important to note this character shift in relation to him now living in Kingston. Low budget filmmakers from the 1970s-90s adopted the style of setting urban crime films in Kingston to bring the reggae-ghetto aesthetics to life. Henzell is deliberate in his portrayal as he aimed to disrupt the stereotypical image of the Caribbean islands as an imperialist paradise.
Watch 'The Harder They Come' here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9U1zc8ys-Q
Sources cited:
“From the Harder They Come to Yardie.” 2020. Interventions. 2020. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369801X.2019.1659160.
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