Better Mus' Come

Better Mus’ Come

I try to get the paper every time I am in town and look for interesting local events that are

coming up that I can rally the troops for. It is usually a matter of reading about it or hearing from someone that something is happening, looking it up online where I only find a phone number to call, than calling over and over again for 3 days until I finally talk to someone and get direction… But my persistence has paid off! A couple times One being a movie at the Trinidadian Film Festival.

The TT Film Festival hosted a number of movies showings all over the 2 islands made by Caribbean directors or having themes realated to the Caribbean. One feature was Sing Your Song a movie about Harry Bellefonte that I had seen at the Sundance Film Festival this past year.

This time we went to see Better Mus’ Come, a movie made by a young Jamaican direct about a young man trying to rise above gang violence in Jamaica during the cold war. Apparently different political parties vying for power where funding different gangs to duke it out on the street and increase their chances by killing everyone who wouldn’t vote for their guy. It was pretty heavy stuff but I was in the mood so it was good. It also felt relevant, as the gang violence here has been on the rise in the past decade or so and people frequently are discussing it.

The movie was shown at Trevor’s Edge, a little bar/restaurant near University of West Indies (UWI). There were all different types of people there, lots of students, both local and international, and artsy movie people from all over the Caribbean. It was a relaxed feel. The movie was projected from someone’s apple laptop both inside and out on the porch, and seats were set up around tables where people chatted and munched on burgers and fries. We got a little lost on the way and showed up just as it was starting. Because of this we had to stand outside the porch and lean on the gate but it actually allowed us to see more of the peoples reactions to the movie, which were just as interesting as the movie. People laughed when I was not expecting it and didn’t sometimes when we did.

At the end we moved inside for a question and answer session with the Director. He was a very articulate young Jamaican man who was clearly well educated and dedicated to his craft. The questions related to his art as well as the messages he was hoping to convey and again the audience reactions where the most interesting part,

relating the movie to the current situation here. After words I went and talked to the director for a bit and asked him to remind me of the first voice over line in the movie that I really liked. “Shadows stand upright in the corners of honest towns”