The documentary Grandpa Was an Emperor, in which Yeshi Kassa, great-granddaughter of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I, investigates the fate of his relatives after the overthrow of the monarch in 1974, that's it It is available on the streaming platform Amazon Prime Video.
The audiovisual work was directed by Constance Marks who clearly established the objectives of his work and the difficulties in achieving it: the lack of information, little family communication and confidentiality around Hailé Mariam Mengistu, the leader of the coup d'état that overthrew Haile Selassie.
Kassa grew up in luxury as the emperor's great-granddaughter, descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, nevertheless Today he lives a simple life away from ostentation, but with a fervent need to know his heritage.
Bob Marley and his importance in the story
The documentary reconstructs the events around his family and, in particular, the death and disappearance of his father, a situation marked by pain and emotion.
A high point of the documentary is when Yeshi Kassa says that she learned a lot about her family from the stories they told, nothing more and nothing less than, Bob Marley, icon of the Rastafarian community who saw Haile Selassie as a hero and a great prophet.
Exploring Marley's ideas, of the Rastafari movement and the importance of Ethiopia - the only African nation that was not colonized- in the eyes of Jamaicans, raise the content of Grandpa Was an Emperor.
If you are interested, You can see it on the Amazon Prime Video streaming platform.
