West Germany, Jamaica

In the autumn of 1980 Jamaica, due to the controversial elections was on the brink of civil war - more than 600 people died. Against this explosive setting Jimmy Cliff, the Bongo Man, strides onto the stage to perform his songs, a musical answer to the island's political tensions. 20,000 excited people responded to the cry of togetherness. Jimmy's philosophy is that politics divide and music unites. This he hammers home In South Africa's Soweto when he passionately puts over "I am the Living" and other universal hits. Jimmy Cliff is the vital link between cultural expressions, his style stemming from Rastafari on the one hand and the original Jamaican Maroons on the other. In "The Harder They Come" when Ivan, the young black from the slums, dies from a hail of bullets, it is the Bongo Man with "I am the Living" who sings his epitaph. BONGO MAN is more than a film - it is a unique musical and emotional experience.