Reggae Film Festival Week (February 2008)

MOVIE REVIEW: Africa Unite

A supremely assembled production

By P. Gavin James, Contributor

AFRICA UNITE, EFFECTIVELY shows its audiences the dynamics affecting the process of nations in Africa. Although the film revolves around the Africa Unite concert which was staged in Ethiopia in 2005 commemorating the 60th anniversary of the birth of Bob Marley, the film transitions between the concert, an African youth conference, and the “pilgrimage” and journey of an elder Jamaican Rastafarian to various parts of Ethiopia. For the first fifteen minutes of the film, the viewer is given the historic background to the systematic method in which Africa was colonized, ravaged and separated, with Ethiopia coming out as the only country in Africa, not being colonized by foreign powers, showing the effective leadership of Hile Selassie I , and the historical importance of Ethiopia to the African continent.

The film gives sufficient background on the organized way in which the problems affecting Africa were created, in addition to the new solutions which are coming to the table to bring Africa closer to unity. The film, apart from showing the problems affecting Africa, also shows the universal nature of Marleys music to transcend borders and to motivate uninspired and oppressed spirits, particularly in Africa.

Africa Unite also shows how influential the thoughts and philosophies of Pan Africanists like Haile Selassie and Marcus Garvey ( to a lesser extent ) influenced the life and work of Marley. The filmmakers have skilfully balanced the film in such a way that the issues do not overpower the life and works of Marley, and at the same time, one gets a sense of sufficient understanding of all of the dynamic that affect Africa from watching the film.

The journey to Ethiopia by Ras Bob Tawney is skillfully incorporated into the documentary. Ras Tawney, a 50 year follower of Rastafari ,shows not just the need for Africans in Africa to unite, but shows the yearning of an in African in the diaspora to feel at home where his ancestry is strongest. Tawney is extremely upbeat about his journey to Ethiopia,and is quite emotional upon reaching to two main destinations on his tour, the Haile Selassasie cathedral and Sashemane, a settlement for returning Africans to Ethiopia. The film captures his extreme joy and connection to the land, and from his reaction to his arrival, he had been yearning for the experience for many years.

Footage taken from the conference Organisation of African Union, raises issues pertinent to the african states gaining true independence.When a particluar speaker raises the issue on financial independence of African states, it becomes the arguments surrounding reparation come to the fore. The film masterfully shows that neocolonialism as a structure that is intentionally instituted to retard the process of African progress, and based on the arguments presented, it becomes clear to the reader that independence cannot be truly obtained without financial stability,which seems to be a dream for many African states.

The movie, which features more as a documentary with Marley’s song Africa Unite being played at the central junctures of the film, has an effective ’soundtrack’ , if that is what one wants to call it.There are pieces of other Marley songs such as Rastaman Vibration , Zimbabwe and Forever Loving Jah which are also interspersed in the film.

The film ends as it had starts at the concert in Addis Ababa with the Marley brothers on stage entertaining a large and receptive audience,and the viewer get the impression that they hang on to the concept of the Africa Unite slogan. If you are one to watch films with a totally uninterupted soundtrack, this might not be your film, but Africa Unite is worth the watych as it is quite though provoking and challenges the viewer’s concept of the African continent and some of the issues that surround it.

P . Gavin James is a graduate of the University of the West Indies where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communications.