The birth of reggae, the rise of a young Bob Marley, Jamaican civil unrest, police extortion, the birth of dub, the English punk scene of the late ’70s, the solo career of Paul McCartney — these could all be chapters in the life story of the legendary producer and musical artist Lee “Scratch” Perry.

The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry, directed by Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough with narration from Benicio del Toro, is a documentary film that employs an immense amount of archival footage as well as current-day interviews to recount the story of Perry’s life, a man influential enough to be branded: the Upsetter.

The documentary begins with a young Perry, born Rainford Hugh Perry, following his life in Kingston, Jamaica and his early recording career in the ’60s and ’70s. Credited as possibly the first person to use a sample of another sound in his song “People Funny Boy,” not to mention being one of the originators of the reggae music movement, Scratch’s life is somewhat of a creative whirlwind. From helping mould and produce a young Bob Marley to breathing life into entirely new genres of music, this is the point at which Perry’s career is arguably reaching its peak.

Given the fact that so much of The Upsetter is made up of archive footage — much of which seems like home video — it’s rather remarkable what glimpses the audience is afforded of the subject matter. Various clips appear to reveal deep, personal truths of the titular character — although with Perry it is sometimes difficult to tell what is genuine and what is a façade.

A man with so much artistic energy in him, Perry is at times swallowed hole by the forces surrounding his creations. In his darkest days, Perry falls into a type of depression that seems to take form in a spiralling type of madness; a creative place into which not even those closest to Scratch can always follow.

From a directing standpoint, Higbee and Lough should be applauded for their willingness to include so much footage that depicts Perry in less than flattering light. That’s not to say there isn’t a fair amount of film that thoroughly lauds Perry’s genius. The Upsetter, though, is a documentary that allows the audience to observe its central character in full view. Perry comes off as a real person, fully flawed, fully engaging, at times tormented, at times cartoonish, but always honest.

At one point Perry, in footage now decades old, calls Marley lucky for being dead, that he should thank God for saving him from “all those vampires and parasites” that clung to his revolution music. It is at once a clear example of the deep resentment and the anger Scratch Perry holds for the industry of music, and just one of many ever-shifting viewpoints, sentiments, personas the title character inhibits throughout his varied career.

If I were to fault The Upsetter for any one reason it would be that it really has no discernable climax. The film follows a logical progression, retelling a chronological account of Perry’s life, but once it nears the end one gets the sense the filmmakers were lacking ideas for the finale and instead just sort of said, “Okay, it’s over now.”

One gets the sense the audience deserves some sort of reaffirmation toward the end as to why they’ve been following this one character for such a long time; the attention is justified, the movie just forgets at times to remind us.

The Upsetter will be playing at Cinematheque, 100 Arthur St., Nov. 16 to Nov. 20 — all shows at 7:00 p.m..