Shottas
by Cess Silvera
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Actor: Ky-Mani Marley, Louie Rankin, Paul Campbell, Spragga Benz, Wyclef JeanDirector: Cess Silvera
Brand: Sony
Producer: Cess Silvera
Writer: Cess Silvera
Producer: Brad Kiosaki
Producer: David-Michael Petragnani
Producer: Destiny Danny Campbell
Producer: Fabien Pruvot
Producer: Jamie O'Malley
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Shottas
DVD Review: The American and Jamaican underworld opened up
Summary: 3 Stars
Shottas (2002) is a movie that unfolds in the American and Jamaican
underworld involving a kingpin with armed associates, clique,
entourage and million dollar lifestyle. This is intended for a
middle-of-the-road, general audience with mass appeal, featuring
gang animosities.
Some will be taken aback from the frequency of Jamaican slang, such
as "bloodclot", or a reference to Day-O (Banana Boat song) or the
shot caller (shotta.) There's also the matter of the pronunciation
by the locals, incomprehensible, suggesting a style derived from
mass illiteracy.
Surprisingly, the release is not 16 x 9, which is unfortunate, as
many angles, the editing, the flow of the script and of the story
if often glossy, well chosen, filmed and delightful.
There is nothing lost in the soundtrack, from an eclectic,
balanced, diversified and eager for risk series of numbers.
The story is food for thought, ranging from the characters - all
miscreants and juvenile delinquents that are trigger happy - such
that the special F/X dept uses up dozens of blood packs over the
course of 90 mins, to weighing the likelihood that a kingpin can
make $7 mil merely from shakedowns of other gangs and legit
businesses.
At not time is there any retaliation law enforcement. There is no
tension, either, among the gangsters, about the legitimacy of their
conduct, operations, rivalry, showing an euphoria from beginning to
end, ranging from scenes at clubs to outdoor festivities and indoor
scenes. A non-stop impunity for all conduct is the case, public and
private, in terms of rubouts, gunplay, car jackings, and
shootouts.
Viewers are made to see a number of "toys" used by the
protagonists, ranging from a power yacht, a Lamborghini, Mercedes
Benz, Cadillac Escalade, Porsche, Rolex, etc.
The director's boldness is clear, in exposing the underlying
violence affecting much of Jamaica, and in expatriate communities
who know of no other livelihood than crime, firing pistols and
shotguns. The ugliness and senseless killing, is in plain sight
and the darkness is juxtaposed tightly with hedonistic moments.
The ghetto, as shown, comprises people who are one-dimensional,
emotionally shallow, closed to cultural sources that normally,
permeate people's lives, ( TV, sports, religion, politics, book
authors.) The charactes seem to never have heard of those things,
or been influenced by any of them. The exception is when a
politician, (mingling with gangs perhaps to gain an upper hand on
rivals), turns against his underworld henchmen when they go rogue
and become front page news.
At the end, many will wonder how is it the characters are still
walking the streets, and not in an asylum.
The oversimplification of crime may also be a turn off, not least
of which because some of the biggest and most profitable
masterminds never show themselves, or commit violence personally,
Finally, Ky-Mani Marley's acting is promising, as Biggs.
Description of Shottas
SHOTTAS - DVD MovieIn Jamaican patois, a gangster is a "shotta" or "shot-caller." Like The Harder They Come and Third World Cop, Cess Silvera choreographs his crime drama to a reggae beat. Bob Marley?s son Stephen provides the music, while Wyclef Jean drops by as a dealer. The saga begins in late-1970s Kingston. Teenagers Biggs (J.R. Silvera) and Wayne (Carlton Grant Jr.) have had their fill of poverty, so they get a gun and start looting and shooting like the shottas they idolize. Flash forward 20 years and Biggs (Stephen?s actor/musician brother, Kymani Marley) has just been deported from the States. He picks up where he left off, joining Wayne (DJ Spragga Benz) and the psychopathic Mad Max (Paul Campbell, Dancehall Queen) in the thug life. As with Pacino's Tony Montana, Miami is their ultimate port of call. Silvera acknowledges the debt to Brian De Palma's Scarface, but there isn't as much drama here--just a lot of violence (spurting blood is a running motif). Cinematographer Cliff Charles uses all manner of visual trickery to lively up the joint, like grainy black and white, slow motion, and jump cuts. The soundtrack also helps to keep things moving, but it's hard to feel sympathy for those who feel no sympathy for anyone but themselves. Vicious as he was, Montana still had a smidgen of sensitivity. As with The Harder They Come, this English-language production is subtitled due to strong accents and pervasive slang. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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