Rockers

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Review of Rockers

Rockers is a seminal Jamaican reggae-based movie starring many of the biggest Jamaican musicians of the 1970s.

The hero of Rockers is Leeroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, a gigging drummer who is struggling to make ends meet. Horsemouth decides to supplement his evening gigging income by purchasing a motorbike and selling records during the daytime. However, the plan quickly falls on hard ground when his bike is stolen by local gangsters and is badly beaten. The story then progresses to tell a Jamaican version of the Robin Hood story.

Whilst Rockers may not have the most intricate or compelling of plots, its crowning achievement is to give an insight in to Jamaican life and culture in the 1970s. All of the main characters in Rockers are played by leading reggae stars of the era (including Burning Spear, Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs and Robbie Shakespeare) who all play themselves in the movie. Many other characters are played by residents of the local communities in which the film was set, including some scenes of Horsemouth's family life which are filmed in his own home with his own wife and children.

The movie was mostly filmed in the Trenchtown community in downtown Kingston, giving an insight in to the lives of poor urban Jamaicans and Ocho Rios, providing a view of "how the other half live" from a poor man's perspective. Rockers naturally boasts an impressive soundtrack, including tracks from Burning Spear, Peter Tosh, Third World and Bunny Wailer.

Rockers was written and directed by Greek Director Theodoros Bafaloukos. The film is Bafaloukos's first (and only) feature film.

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