Quote:
There has never been a documentary like “Land of Look Behind”. Relatively unknown due to poor distribution and New York Film Festival skullduggery, this breathtaking film presents a unique epic vision with quasi-dramatic elements and cinematographic wizardry. The non-reggae original soundtrack is outstanding, as is the reggae music of Bob Marley and Gregory Isaacs. The great documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog has called “Look Behind” the non-fiction film that has influenced him most over the last fifteen years. Indeed, this film’s peers are the best of Herzog, Bunuel’s “Land Without Bread”, Flaherty’s “Nanook” and Leacock-Pennebaker’s “Louisiana Story”. With thoughtful viewing, one will see this moving documentary actually end with a lovely little dream sequence. No American has come close to making a film this ingenious in the last thirty years

1.69GB | 1 h 29 min | 852×480 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/15DF3B7BCCAFF38/Land_of_Look_Behind_(1982)_-_DVD.mkv

Language:English+commentary
Subtitles:English

The post Alan Greenberg – Land of Look Behind [+commentary] (1982) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
In this documentary on the Rastafarians in Jamaica (homeland of the Rastafari par excellence — the late Bob Marley), director Alan Greenberg interviews some Jamaicans whose conversations suggest that the smoking of ganja, the worship of Haile Selassie (the former Ethiopian emperor) as a god, and the goal of Jamaican self-realization is their own kind of unified field theory. A young, poverty-stricken teenager listens to the reggae music on his radio as though it will magically lead him to a better future, and a pineapple cutter living in the “baddest” area of the island dreams of fomenting tourism in his exotic surroundings. The May, 1981 funeral of Marley himself brought Christian and Rastafarian beliefs together in tribute to the island’s hero, providing one of the most poignant vignettes in the Land of Look Behind.

Review by Jim Jarmusch
Land of Look Behind is an overlooked poetic document by Alan Greenberg from 1982. Filmed in Jamaica in May and June of 1981, Greenberg’s initial intention. to my knowledge was purely to capture Bob Marley’s funeral, and the impact of his death on the island’s culture. But somehow, like an unusual tropical blossom, the film unfolds into something morestriking and beautiful than maybe even Greenberg himself expected. It becomes an organic portrait of the very soul of Jamaica, and the earthy, pervaisive sub-strata or Rastafarianism.

Formally the film flows easily, seemingly growing from the climate, the music, the speech patterns, and the gentle landscape of the island itself. Footage of Marley’s coffin being driven in the back of a pickup along the dusty roadways lined with throngs of devastated admirers does serve as a visual centerpiece. But the heart of the film inhabits its details. For me, a specific images seem to recur in my memory (I’ve seen the film several times): the waythat, in the opening sequence, a backwoods countryman carefully locates and presents a small indegenous tree toad to the camera; a shot of Gregory Isaacs from behind as he exists a ground floor office and walks into Kingston’s hard sunlight; and the haunting closingsequence involving a young Rasta in the hills undulating to Marley’s voice and rythyms floating from a tape player, as though the music contains the secret code to a deep spiritual mystery. And, in fact, it does.

In the end, Land of look Behind, in its casual, organic way taps into the true spiritof the gifts of Jamaican culture, both musical and spiritual, to somehow become a near-perfect portrait of the strength and pride of it’s people. In my opinion, Alan Greenberg’s film rounds out a trilogy og great movies from Jamaica which also includes The Harder They Come and Rockers. I’m happy to recommend it as a film that has not yet recieved the attention it deserves. – Jim Jarmusch

896MB | 01:29:50 | 608×352 | avi

https://nitro.download/view/24FC5F07422AD6E/Land_of_Look_Behind_(1982,_Alan_Greenberg).avi
http://nitroflare.com/view/A0C624B60233DAB/Land_of_Look_Behind_%281982%2C_Alan_Greenberg%29.idx
http://nitroflare.com/view/B88AD18559CAE38/Land_of_Look_Behind_%281982%2C_Alan_Greenberg%29.sub

Language:English + Commentary
Subtitles:English

The post Alan Greenberg – Land of Look Behind (1982) first appeared on Cinema of the World.