The First Rasta (2011)
• April 27th, 2011 • 1h 26min
Documentary
Overview
Going far beyond the standard imagery of Rasta—ganja, reggae, and dreadlocks—this cultural history offers an uncensored vision of a movement with complex roots and the exceptional journey of a man who taught an enslaved people how to be proud and impose their culture on the world. In the 1920s Leonard Percival Howell and the First Rastas had a revelation concerning the divinity of Haile Selassie, king of Ethiopia, that established the vision for the most popular mystical movement of the 20th century, Rastafarianism. Although jailed, ridiculed, and treated as insane, Howell, also known as the Gong, established a Rasta community of 4,500 members, the first agro-industrial enterprise devoted to producing marijuana. In the late 1950s the community was dispersed, disseminating Rasta teachings throughout the ghettos of the island. A young singer named Bob Marley adopted Howell's message, and through Marley's visions, reggae made its explosion in the music world.
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
Reggae Music
Released on: 1981-01-01
Documentary
Documentary about reggae in Jamaica and its history. Filmed in 1979.
The Viking Sagas
Released on: 2011-05-10
Documentary, History
Dr Janina Ramirez travels across glaciers and through the lava fields of Iceland to find out about o...
The Certainty of Probabilities
Released on: 2021-06-14
Documentary
1968, The Socialist Republic of Romania. Women catch up on the latest tendencies in beachwear, the y...
Narbonne: The Second Rome
Released on: 2021-06-19
Documentary, History, TV Movie
More than 2.000 years ago, Narbonne in today's Département Aude was the capital of a huge Roman prov...
The Aviatrix
Released on: 2015-04-22
Adventure, Documentary
In 1928, Lady Heath became the first person to fly solo from Cape Town to London. Eighty-five years ...
Hello My Dear
Released on: 2021-05-01
Documentary
The documentary is titled after Arkadaş Z. Özger’s poem “Hello My Dear” which had caused much contro...
For All Mankind
Released on: 1989-11-01
Documentary, History
A testament to NASA's Apollo program of the 1960s and '70s. Composed of actual NASA footage of the m...
Pressing On: The Letterpress Film
Released on: 2017-05-27
Documentary
Why has letterpress printing survived? Irreplaceable knowledge of the historic craft is in danger of...
The Naked Terracotta Warriors
Released on: 2015-09-24
Documentary
An in-depth look at the lost burial site of Emperor Jing Di's hidden army. Lost for over 2,000 years...
Last Words
Released on:
Documentary
Linguist-philologist Mark Janse discovers speakers of the Cappadocian language – previously assumed ...
Revolution OS
Released on: 2001-03-09
Documentary
REVOLUTION OS tells the inside story of the hackers who rebelled against the proprietary software mo...
The Unconquered
Released on: 2017-09-15
Animation, Documentary
The Institute of National Remembrance, Fish Ladder and Juice present “The Unconquered” – an animated...
The General And Me
Released on: 2017-05-29
War, Documentary, History
Over the period of 25 years the director met General Võ Nguyên Giáp, a legendary hero of Vietnam’s i...
Cincinnati's Rock 'N Roll Legends
Released on: 1995-01-01
Documentary, Music
An excellent comprehensive look at all the music that came out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati "Roc...
Leninland
Released on: 2013-11-30
Documentary
At the peak of Perestroika, in 1987, in the village of Gorki, where Lenin spent his last years, afte...
That World Is Gone
Released on:
History, Documentary
Kathy's family left on a Saturday morning in 1965. The rumble of bulldozers echoed through the neigh...