Rasta movie

I thought that there were both similarities and differences between this Rastafarian culture and the cultures that we talked about in class.  Just like any Rastafarian group that we've seen, this village strongly identifies themselves with Africa and is actually preparing to travel across the Atlantic Ocean in order to get to Africa.  The people in this community also wear dreadlocks, to further their connection with Africa.  The people are also very spiritual.  They do physical and mental preparation for resurrection, redemption, and repatriation.  Thirdly, this community had made signs that preach "good over evil",  and "justice for all."  They must also have the common Rastafarian belief that they have been oppressed (or downpressed) and they know that they will eventually have peace and justice.

Event though there are some similarities, there are a couple key differences between this community and the communities of Rastafarians that we have studied in our text.  The first is that there was no mention of the ganja plant, or smoking it to free ones mind.  I did see one man possible smoking marijuana in the video but absolutely no talk about its enhancing powers.  I also did not hear any of the music associated with the Rastafarians.  There was no mention of reggae music or any group drumming that usually goes on.  I guess it would be hard to have reggae music in the middle of nowhere, but I didn't see one handmade drum in the whole village.

This community was definitely  a little different that most Rastafarian villages that we have looked at so far, but they do have the same basic beliefs.  This community does not contradict our image of Rastafarians but it does let us know that there are different sects of this religion, just like there are sects of christianity.