Jamaica is an Island in the Caribbean Sea. It’s located around 600 miles from Miami Florida USA. The Jamaican Film Industry continues to grow on a consistent basis. This island has always been a popular tourist attraction. In fact, more tourists visit the island annually than there are residents. While Jamaica is known for its pristine beaches and exotic waterfalls, there are lots more happening on the island. Jamaican Film Industry has been a hidden secret for quite sometimes.
Unique Cultural Background
Jamaica has a unique culture background that has transcended borders and appealed to numerous people around the world. Rastafari, developed in the 1930s, is a religious and social movement that people have adopted globally. The movie industry has film taken a liking to filming several movies in Jamaica.
Musician such as Bob Marley and Track and Field sports with the likes of Usain Bolt has help to keep Brand Jamaica on the global stage. Sometimes else has kept Jamaica in the spotlight is the Jamaican Film Industry. Several movies, depicting Jamaican people and their lifestyles, have premiered on global circuits. These movies have helped many visitors to get a better understand the Jamaican culture.
Here are a few of the movies that were made in Jamaica.
Cool Runnings a Jamaican Film
Since Jamaica is known for its tropical beaches and warm weather all-year round, most of the world was stunned when Jamaica competed in its first bobsled competition at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
The team returned to several subsequent events but did not win any medals. Some Jamaicans were so proud of the team that they decided to portray the team’s journey in a movie called Cool Runnings.
Released in 1993, Cool Runnings was based on the true story of the Jamaican National Bobsleigh Team debuted at the games.
The film is about Derice Bannock, a runner who fails to qualify at the Olympic Trial for the 1988 Olympic Summer Games after Junior Bevil, a fellow runner, takes him and another runner down when he trips and falls.
Determined to compete in the Olympics, Bannock and his friend, Sanka Coffie, a champion pushcart racer, seek an old friend who tried to recruit sprinters to the bobsled team. The team experiences humiliation when they can’t find a sponsor, during training and being exposed for recruiting disgraced athletes. This movie gave recognition to the Jamaican Film industry.
Reviews And Earning
The movie garnered positive reviews and earned $155 million at the box office from a $17 million budget. Jimmy Cliff, a Jamaican musician, did the soundtrack for the movie and reached the Top 40 chart.
Cool Runnings depicted the lives of young men in Jamaica and their stride to compete on the world stage despite struggling with financing and being scoffed at for being a tropical nation that wanted to participate in a winter sport.
One of the reasons that the movie was popular is that it showed how a person in Jamaica can overcome all obstacles and go on to achieve their dream. The movie served as an inspiration to many Jamaicans and made them realize that they could be successful despite growing up in poverty.
Countryman
There’s no doubt that Bob Marley and his band, The Wailers, are a Jamaican national treasure. Bob Marley has made such an impact on the world that an official Bob Marley Day honors his death is celebrated in Jamaica over a five-day period in February. The film producers of Countryman dedicated the movie to Bob Marley and The Wailers.
Countryman, a Jamaican fisherman and Rastafarian, rescues two Americans from a crashed plane. He gets caught up in a political plot by leader of the establishment, Colonel Sinclair. This movie dives into the Jamaican culture and the Jamaican Movie industry. If you want to find out everything about Jamaica’s music and its biggest stars, then this is the movie for you.
Staring Jamaican actor, Edwin “Countryman” Lothan.
Countryman helps the Americans evade the local authorities by using his knowledge of the Jamaican terrain and survival skills. The director does a fantastic job of showcasing rural Jamaica and the peaceful message of Rastafarianism. The Jamaican Film Industry did a fantastic job, but at the end of the day, it just a movie. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, as well as Bob Marley and The Wailers, performed on the soundtracks.
MADE IN JAMAICA
This film highlights several sides of the Jamaican culture. In this documentary, the producer follows some of the biggest reggae and Dancehall artists that Jamaica has to offer. Audiences at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival saw that the movie delved into Jamaica’s music culture and the country’s society.
Documentary on Jamaica’s Dance Hall and Reggae Artist
One of the key highlights in the movie are the live performances. Some critics said that the movie explored deep societal issues, but it prompted audiences to explore the Jamaican culture further. The movie included some of the best Jamaican artists filmed during live performances. The film also shows part of downtown Kingston. It gives a preview of some of the neighborhoods that most tourists don’t visit.
Dr. No
James Bond is a British spy who travels the world and attempts to bring down villains. This is the first James Bond film and based on the novel of the same name. Since this popular franchise chose to shoot in Jamaica, you can imagine that the sceneries the island y were magnificent.
Sean Connery plays the British spy in this 1962 movie, which was shot mostly in Jamaica. Bond goes to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent.
His search leads him to discover the underground base of Dr. No, whose plot is to disrupt an American space launch with a radio beam weapon. The movie was shot with a low budget but was a financial success, prompting the establishment of the franchise.
Some of the movie’s most memorable scenes include shots of Oracabessa, Liguanea Club in Kingston and the Port Royal in St. Andrew, as well as the Palisadoes strip. One of the most iconic scenes was when Ursula Andress walks out of the sea in a bikini and carries a dagger at Dunn’s River on the north coast.
On a budget of just over $1 million, Dr. No went onto to bank $60 million at the box office.
Cocktail
Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. He started in this movie filmed in Jamaica call Cocktail. The movie was released in 1988. The movie is about a bartender who gains a tremendous amount of hype for his bartending skills in New York nightclubs. Cruise plays Brian Flanagan, who gets the attention of a beautiful and wealthy photographer Coral.
After his business partnership and relationship with Coral go pear-shaped, Flanagan takes a job at a Jamaican resort as a bartender to raise money to buy a place. Flanagan falls in love with Jordan Mooney but gets caught cheating. He finds that Mooney is no longer on the island and goes after her when he realizes that she is the of his love.
With some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, the movie was filled with lots of sceneries. 
Rockers
One of the early movies that depicted the Jamaican culture was a movie released in 1978 called Rockers. Quite a few popular reggae artists such as Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear and Big Youth starred in the movie.
Although originally intended to be a documentary, Rockers developed into a full-length feature.
The movie follows Horseman, a drummer who lives in a ghetto in Kingston. His goals were to make extra money by selling and distributing records. Horsemouth purchases a motorbike to carry the records to the locations of the sound systems around the island.
The film evolves into a reggae interpretation of the Robin Hood myth. It shows the reggae culture at its peak and the mannerisms and characters in Jamaica. These Films are well love by a wider audience and the Jamaicans Populations.
One Love
Many Jamaican artists use the word ‘One Love’. It’s appropriate that a Jamaican movie would have the name ‘One Love.’
The movie was released in 2003 and featured Ky-Mani Marley and Idris Elba. The premise of One Love is a young Rasta musician who falls in love with a gospel-singing daughter of a Pentecostal preacher.
Ky-Mani Marley star in the Movie ‘One Love” Jamaica in Cinema: Films
They meet when they sign up for a music contest. The winner of the contest would get $20,000 and a recording deal. When her father discovered that they had fallen in love, he forbade her from seeing him. He wants his daughter to date a church member.
The couple had to overcome the preacher’s disapproval and a corrupt record producer.
Which Movie To Watch
The genres that we have listed above include everything from romance to drama to comedy. Regardless of which movie you select to choose, you will get a good glimpse into Jamaican culture.
Many movies were shot in Jamaica to obtain the best beach scenery and to incorporate the Rastafarian culture. Most of the movies based in Jamaica depict were based on culture, mannerisms, and characters of Jamaica.
Some of the movies listed are documentaries that explore the Rastafarian and reggae culture to its roots, while others show the lifestyles of most Jamaicans. To get a good glimpse into Jamaica’s culture and enjoy the beautiful sceneries in Jamaica, you need take a vacation to Jamaica. This will give you a first hands experience of what some folks call paradise.