Better Mus Come: A Jamaican thriller
Director/Writer: Storm Saulter
Producer: Paul Bucknor
Cast: Sheldon Shepherd; Nicole Grey; Everaldo Creary; Ricardo Orgill
Run time: 104 minutes
F OR seven years Jamaicans have waited for another film they could call their own, and last Thursday evening it finally came in the form of the Storm Saulter all-Jamaican-cast thriller Better Mus’ Come.
Better Mus’ Come is a dramatic film set in a turbulent 1970’s Jamaica and inspired by the actual Green Bay Massacre in1978. It is a society struggling with a national water crisis, an energy crisis, corruption, and numerous murder scandals that heightened the violence that plagued the streets.
After months of incarceration as a suspected political agitator, Ricky is released. Troubled by the tragic death of his young wife and paralysed by conflicting feelings of guilt and loyalty to his political group, he tries to plot a course through the minefields created by the constant social upheaval that seems to be everywhere in his community, while providing a better life for his five-year-old son.
At his homecoming party Ricky meets Kemala, a book-smart country girl, who lives in the opposing neighbourhood; enemy territory.
In many ways they are opposites, but what starts as antagonism quickly turns into burning passion.
Kemala encourages Ricky to convince his old friends in the community to adopt a more reflexive and peaceful approach. To defy the status quo of confrontation, this leads to the inevitable cycle of violence.
After seeing how difficult life under the current government was becoming, Ricky decided to take the advice of his compatriots Shortman and Flames and to take the offer given to them by an undercover-government informant called Souls, who later draws the group of men into an ambush.
Better Mus’ Come is not a typical Jamaican film; it is well-written, riddled with comic innuendos but with a serious over-tone of political corruption and passionate romance. The movie is filled with history that all Jamaicans should embrace.
TEENage rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
