vhsparrow wrote:

A celebrity travelogue and not much more...

This film is a strange confab of celebrity travel souvenir and retrospective of the Rastafarian movement on the occasion of Bob Marley’s 60th birthday. Much of the surviving Marley clan is featured here — Ziggy, Rita, Cedelia, Damian and Julian — there’s music and interviews. And more interviews — interviews with lots of people who just happened to show up for Bob’s birthday celebration down in Ethiopia. There’s Danny Glover, Angelique Kidjo, Lauren Hil[...] more >

Smooth_J wrote:

I tried to enjoy it...

It should be duly mentioned that I have a very deep respect for the intentions of this film.  Africa needs to get out of the gutter and start cooperating with each other, and stop thinking that they are helpless and need western support.  It is a perfectly relevant message, and the film gets it across pretty well...I just didn't like the movie. As a film, it cannot seem to decide what it is.  It attempts to be a tribute to Bob Marley.  It attempts to document how important E[...] more >

kungfu-koala wrote:

Africa Unite

Normally the mention of Africa in conversation invokes many different visuals. All the childhood dreams of actually going to Africa to see the amazing people and beautiful wildlife have now been overshadowed by the current affairs of the continent. A continent that continues to suffer from decades of exploitation by the wealthy. Where humans have been sacrificed for the pursuit of profit and now ad campaigns selling products in order to help people be socially conscious. Stephanie Black a direc[...] more >

minerwerks wrote:

Mixed Messages

The overdue reviews of two DVDs sent to me by Spout: "Out of Balance" and "Africa Unite."  At a recent film screening I attended, an audience questioned the cast and crew, "Was that a movie or a message?"The surprisingly appropriate reply from an actor was, "What is a movie BUT a message?" In recent years, we have seen the venues for self-expression blossom, and among the various clutter out there, determined people with a message have found ways to break through. Two documentaries I vi[...] more >

BigJeffLebowski wrote:

"Liberate yourself from mental slavery"

Africa Unite is a film with noble intentions and a wealth of entertaining and enlightening material.  As a documentary, it is a distilation of the annual summit of the same name, during which the musical and political legacy of Bob Marley is celebrated through song and symposium.  Every year, ambassadors from across the world gather -- this particular time in Ethiopia, the birthplace of the Rastafari movement -- to engage in academic discourse with the intent of unifying the countries [...] more >