Dreadlocks Story (France/Jamaica)
Linda Anouche’s Dreadlocks Story explores the roots of Rastafari, but with a startling thesis. It traces dreadlocks, ganja smoking and Ital (vegetarian) diet—distinguishing characteristics of the Rasta lifestyle—back not to Africa, but to the Sadhus of northern India. Utilizing footage of present-day Sadhus chanting and partaking in sacramental ganja smoke as well as interviews with Rastafari elders, Jamaican historians and the family of Leonard Howell (the father of the Rastafari movement), Dreadlocks Story compellingly and effectively makes its case, even as its assertions are not entirely above debate.