The First Rasta

2010

86 mins

Directed by Hélène Lee, Christophe Farnarier
Documentary

Through the mind of young explorer Leonard Percival Howell (1893 – 1981), this documentary looks to shed light on the... More

Through the mind of young explorer Leonard Percival Howell (1893 – 1981), this documentary looks to shed light on the origin and the vision of the Rasta Movement. Utilising film archives, police reports and newspaper articles, the film follows the adventurer's development of ideas and eventual return to Jamaica in the 1930s, where the first manifestations of his movement took hold.

At the beginning of the 1900s, Howell left Jamaica, became a sailor and travelled the world. On his way, he chanced upon all the ideas that stirred his time. From Bolshevism to New Thought, from Gandhi to anarchism, from Garveyism to psychoanalysis, he sought to find his promised land. With this cocktail of ideas Howell returned to Jamaica and founded Pinnacle, the first Rasta community in 1939.

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The First Rasta | Ratings & Reviews

"Ostensibly detailing the life of Leonard 'The Gong' Howell, founder of Rastafarianism, The First Rasta finds plenty of time to hang out with some present day Jamaicans, many of them former residents of Howell's commune The Pinnacle. Founded in the 1930s, The Pinnacle was home to thousands of Rastafarians until 1954 when it was shut down by police, and was the birthplace of reggae music (later Bob Marley would name himself Tuff Gong as a tribute to Howell)."

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