Letter of the Day | Much ado about nothing?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Film-making is a big business, and businesses can only survive if they make a profit. All this to say, whether it is Paramount Pictures or Mediamix, their primary purpose is to make films that not only entertain, but return a profit for investors.

Biopic describes a film which deals with someone’s life story. A biopic doesn’t have to cover every detail from birth to death, with every minute detail of the person’s life.

Producers are not concerned about xenophobic considerations of a parochial group whose minds are confused with national sentiment. Arguably, Nelson Mandela is one of the most iconic international persons. Several commercial films have been made about this giant of a man who is still the face of South Africa.

The list of actors who have played this international hero reads like a who’s who of the actors’ community.

Among those who played Mandela were Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Idris Elba, Terrence Howard, Danny Glover and Clarke Peters. None of these were South African actors. When Hollywood decided to make a feature film on Steve Biko, another South African hero, Denzel Washington played the role.

More recently, Malcolm X was portrayed by an Englishman named Kingsley Ben-Adir, who happens to be the same actor chosen to play Bob Marley.

If we start from the reality that theatrical films are big business, then one must accept that geography and nationality of actors do not make a hit movie. How many people will take a bus to watch a film at Carib cinema or any of the local cinemas still standing?

In one night, more people in Brooklyn and Bronx will see One Love than all the residents in Jamaica will see it in one year. Reality.

So the producers/financiers are not making a film to please Jamaicans and besot babymothers. They must make a film that beckons viewers to the box office in the middle of snow-filled streets ... after investing hundreds of millions of dollars.

One Love looks at only one chapter of Bob Marley’s life. It is not an encyclopaedia which chronicles every iota of his life or the concerns of each babymother. If his wife and children approve the choice of actors, we need to respect their opinion and keep our mouths shut until we shell out some dollars to go watch the film.

One of the most profitable Disney films is Cool Runnings – a film about a Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the Winter Olympics. None of the black, Jamaican actors were played by Jamaicans. Where was the brouhaha then?

Gandhi’s shadow straddles the globe. When Hollywood decided to his biopic, they chose Ben Kingsley, an Englishman, to play the role. The proud, nationalistic Indian audience never revolted. I guess they never had social media then. The American rock star Madonna was chosen to play Argentina’s Eva Peròn.

All the naysayers are going to be ‘tired fi see Bob’s face’. Respect to all those who made One Love, the film, come to life.

A jus suh di ting set.

LENNIE LITTLE-WHITE