THE CALABASH Literary Festival opened its six weeks of film screenings last Thursday with the docu-video One Giant Leap. The film successfully combines thoughts about the oldest questions of mankind with music that speaks to the heart and soul of humanity.
Taking its title from Neil Armstrong's famous quote, 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind', One Giant Leap chronicles a walk around the world rather than the moon. At just over 2 1/2 hours in length, however, it slants too far to the lengthy side. As such, it could have borne a bit more editing, removing some of the less remarkable pieces.
Nonetheless, the movie is certainly a must-see for those who want more than pop music and are interested in philosophies of life. In several ways, One Giant Leap can be seen as providing the soundtrack to human intelligence.
If in truth the two major things that distinguish humanity from the rest of the animal kingdom are our ability to create music and higher levels of thought, then One Giant Leap takes a look at that which makes humans what they are.
One Giant Leap chronicles two musicians' (Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman) journey around much of the world. The two, who also directed the piece, as well as composed the music, collaborated with several musicians to present a soundtrack which is often astounding. The music is often accompanied by striking images which help to add to the music video element of the film.
The music is complemented by thoughts of some of the world's finest, and occasionally most frightening, minds. Most of the 155 minutes are dedicated to the music, however. It involves the work of a diverse group of personalities such as Baaba Maal, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Robbie Williams, Neneh Cherry, Dennis Hopper, REM's Michael Stipe and Ram Dass. In both the music and speech, the female contribution is very limited, featuring only The Mahotella Queens, Anita Rodderick and Gabrielle Roth. Nonetheless, their contributions were particularly remarkable. The Mahotella were featured at least twice and displayed amazing vocals.
Rather than being a smooth flowing work, the film is segmented into varying issues, issues which are of eternal concern to mankind. These issues include God, sex, death, money, confrontation and masks. The comments tended to range from the philosophic to the comic and sometimes the controversial. Each segment is started by a famous quote, ranging from minds as disparate as those of Mark Twain and Bill Gates.
The segment on masks was particularly striking, so too was the segment on confrontation. Giving voice to a wide range of speakers, One Giant Leap also allowed a look at Australia's Aborigines and the Maouri of New Zealand. Interestingly, the segment on sex avoided titillation all together, but instead turned some common conceptions of sex workers and our attitudes toward them at least on their sides, if not altogether on their heads.
The screenings take place at The Bob Marley Theatre at the Bob Marley Museum on Hope Road, St. Andrew. This Thursday features the Spanish film Sex and Lucia while One Giant Leap returns to close the screenings on May 22.
